SHAH ALAM - The rise of scams continues, with kidnapping scams emerging as a disturbing new tactic employed by scammers.
Marlene Zahari took to Facebook to alert others about a recent phone scam she encountered, which involved a fake kidnapping threat.
Marlene recounted how an anonymous caller contacted her, claiming to have her child in custody and threatening harm unless a ransom was paid.
However, she noted that the scammer lacked specific details about her child, such as gender and age.
"A few days ago, around 2pm, a man called and yelled at me, claiming to have my child in custody and threatening to kill them if I didn't comply with his demands.
"While he knew my name, he couldn't provide any other details about my child.
"When I remained silent, he continued to threaten me and instructed his accomplice to harm the so-called child," she shared.
Marlene claimed to have heard sounds of struggle, crying, and screaming in the background, although she suspected that the voices could have been artificially generated.
In a swift move, she texted her eldest son to inquire about his whereabouts and received a response confirming that he was safe at school and had even seen his sister during lunch.
After confirming the safety of her children, Marlene chose to remain silent on the call, prompting the scammer to hang up when further communication eventually proved futile.
"While he continued to scream threats, I sent a text message to my eldest son, hoping he was still at school. He replied, assuring me he was at school and had seen his sister during lunch break.
"I stayed silent on the call until the scammer grew tired and hung up," she recounted.
Marlene also suggested that scammers may be adopting new methods, such as using AI-generated voices to clone voices during their scams.
Unfortunately, Marlene is not the sole target of this scam tactic.
She revealed that her friends have also experienced similar kidnapping scams.
"Today, my friend's sister received the same call. Fortunately, she had heard about this scam.
"Another friend informed me that her colleague received the same call a day prior to my incident and has filed a police report. Everyone should be vigilant," Marlene warned.
Sinar Daily has contacted the police for their response.