The FBI in Pittsburgh is warning community members about a kidnapping scam circulating the area.
They say in the past week, more than 450 calls were made to people with area code 724 by scammers somewhere in Mexico.
The FBI believes the scammers are scanning social media accounts for people traveling in the Southwest border. The caller then tells the person’s loved ones are in danger or have been kidnapped. The scammer then says to send money as soon as possible.
The FBI says to never give out any financial information to someone over the phone, and to report the fraudulent call to local police.