Kidnapping Ransom Scam Victim
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My beautiful daughter, Cheyenne, was recently the victim of a kidnapping ransom scam. On May 20th, she received a phone call from a man claiming to have abducted her mother. The man threatened to send pieces of her mother back to her if Cheyenne reported this to the police, or if she tried to contact anyone or did not do exactly as she was told.
He instructed her to wire him $3,000 immediately, even putting "mom" on the phone begging for Cheyenne to save her life. At one point, a "police officer" called Cheyenne and told her to cooperate with the kidnapper in order to get her mother back safely.
In a panic, and fearing for her mother's life, Cheyenne withdrew all of her savings ($2,000), hoping it would be enough and wired the money to the kidnapper through a CheckSmart store. While the kidnapper had her on the phone, he demanded that she tear up all the wire transfer papers and receipts and scatter them around town. He refused to let her hang up and had her put on her speaker phone so he could hear her tearing up the receipts. He then instructed her to drive for a mile and deposit some of the receipts in some garbage cans. He then had her drive another mile or two and deposit more pieces of the receipts in some garbage cans. He had her continue to drive around town until all the pieces were disposed of (no evidence left behind).
After all the requirements had been met, he allegedly released her mother and hung up. A few hours later, Cheyenne contacted her mother to make sure she was safe (the mother, of course, knew nothing about any of this and had never been kidnapped).
I'm proud to say that my daughter is, in my eyes, a hero. Some might think Cheyenne was foolish for not checking to make sure her mother really WAS kidnapped. However, let's stop and think about this for a moment: If someone called you, claiming to be holding a loved one for ransom - your child, your parent, your spouse - and told you they would be killed instantly if you did not comply, what would you do?
Prior to this happening, Cheyenne had suffered several severe blows in her life:
She had just returned to work as a massage therapist after a terrible bout of pneumonia. Shortly afterwards, she went into premature labor (4 months early) with her first child. She took a sabbatical from work to visit her tiny daughter every day at the hospital (40 miles away each way, each day). The baby lived for one month before succumbing to an infection that her tiny 1 pound body could not defeat. A devastating loss.
Cheyenne again returned to work to assauge her sorrow and, several months later, was happy to discover she was pregnant again. Due to severe medical issues arising from the pregnancy, she was ordered bed rest so, once again, she had to leave her work as a massage therapist.
And then the news of her mother's "kidnapping" and, in one morning, her entire life savings was wiped out by a crook on a phone. Despite pleas to the bank that the money was used to pay for an alleged ransom, the bank took no pity and would not help her. Contacting the FBI, Cheyenne discovered that this scam has hit numerous people in the Phoenix area and, while the FBI promised to pursue it, they offered no real hope of recovering her savings.
So, Cheyenne, who tried to save her mother, now finds herself pregnant without a job, without any savings and nothing to fall back on. So many people have belittled her and told her how stupid she was to "fall" for this con. I prefer to look at my daughter as my hero who did everything she could to save her mother.
Please help Cheyenne get back on her feet and have something set aside for her upcoming baby. She deserves to be applauded for her love, compassion and dedication to family, not ridiculed for trying to save them.
He instructed her to wire him $3,000 immediately, even putting "mom" on the phone begging for Cheyenne to save her life. At one point, a "police officer" called Cheyenne and told her to cooperate with the kidnapper in order to get her mother back safely.
In a panic, and fearing for her mother's life, Cheyenne withdrew all of her savings ($2,000), hoping it would be enough and wired the money to the kidnapper through a CheckSmart store. While the kidnapper had her on the phone, he demanded that she tear up all the wire transfer papers and receipts and scatter them around town. He refused to let her hang up and had her put on her speaker phone so he could hear her tearing up the receipts. He then instructed her to drive for a mile and deposit some of the receipts in some garbage cans. He then had her drive another mile or two and deposit more pieces of the receipts in some garbage cans. He had her continue to drive around town until all the pieces were disposed of (no evidence left behind).
After all the requirements had been met, he allegedly released her mother and hung up. A few hours later, Cheyenne contacted her mother to make sure she was safe (the mother, of course, knew nothing about any of this and had never been kidnapped).
I'm proud to say that my daughter is, in my eyes, a hero. Some might think Cheyenne was foolish for not checking to make sure her mother really WAS kidnapped. However, let's stop and think about this for a moment: If someone called you, claiming to be holding a loved one for ransom - your child, your parent, your spouse - and told you they would be killed instantly if you did not comply, what would you do?
Prior to this happening, Cheyenne had suffered several severe blows in her life:
She had just returned to work as a massage therapist after a terrible bout of pneumonia. Shortly afterwards, she went into premature labor (4 months early) with her first child. She took a sabbatical from work to visit her tiny daughter every day at the hospital (40 miles away each way, each day). The baby lived for one month before succumbing to an infection that her tiny 1 pound body could not defeat. A devastating loss.
Cheyenne again returned to work to assauge her sorrow and, several months later, was happy to discover she was pregnant again. Due to severe medical issues arising from the pregnancy, she was ordered bed rest so, once again, she had to leave her work as a massage therapist.
And then the news of her mother's "kidnapping" and, in one morning, her entire life savings was wiped out by a crook on a phone. Despite pleas to the bank that the money was used to pay for an alleged ransom, the bank took no pity and would not help her. Contacting the FBI, Cheyenne discovered that this scam has hit numerous people in the Phoenix area and, while the FBI promised to pursue it, they offered no real hope of recovering her savings.
So, Cheyenne, who tried to save her mother, now finds herself pregnant without a job, without any savings and nothing to fall back on. So many people have belittled her and told her how stupid she was to "fall" for this con. I prefer to look at my daughter as my hero who did everything she could to save her mother.
Please help Cheyenne get back on her feet and have something set aside for her upcoming baby. She deserves to be applauded for her love, compassion and dedication to family, not ridiculed for trying to save them.
Organizer
Amy Lovering
Organizer
Mesa, AZ
