Virtual Kidnapping

An extortion scheme in which a caller falsely claims to have abducted a victim's relative and demands an immediate wire payment, even though no actual kidnapping has taken place. The scheme relies on social engineering and prior research into the family to make the fabricated threat convincing enough that the target pays before attempting to verify the relative's safety. It is documented as a distinct scam variant alongside telephone-based fraud schemes such as voice phishing, in which callers likewise impersonate a trusted or threatening party to pressure a victim into an urgent payment, and law enforcement treats it as its own recognized extortion scheme rather than as an actual abduction case.