Scammers target with fake hostage calls

ALMIRA — Scammers are using fake hostage situations to demand money, preying on fear and targeting vulnerable individuals.

A local woman reported receiving a call from an unknown number with a 253 area code. When she answered, she heard a young woman screaming.

“I got a call, and it was a girl screaming, saying, ‘Mommy, help me! Mommy, mommy, mommy!’ She was inconsolable,” Cathy Florenzen said. “I could sense it was not my daughter because she has never called me ‘mommy’ in her life.”

Florenzen handed the phone to her husband, but the unknown female caller continued sobbing. A man then got on...