Jacksonville mom, daughter say they fell for hostage scam, want to warn others

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A Jacksonville mother and daughter are warning others after they say they were the victims of a hostage phone scam.

They said they both got calls from each other’s phone numbers, from a man threatening violence if they didn’t pay up.

“He said, ‘Listen very carefully. I have your daughter and I’m going to kill her if you don’t follow my directions,’” said Kim Brew.

What she said she didn’t realize is that her daughter Colleen Brew had gotten the same phone call minutes before from Kim Brew’s number.

“He said, ‘We have your mom here and we’re going to kill her if you don’t follow our instructions,’” said Colleen Brew.

Colleen Brew’s call log showed a call from “Mommy” at 11:23 a.m. on Tuesday.

Her mother’s call log showed a call from “Colleen” at 11:48 a.m.

They believe it was two scam callers spoofing their numbers in the same room, because they both say they heard each other’s voices on speaker phone.

“He had her voice on the phone, crying at this point. And when I heard her going, ‘Mommy,’ my heart just – oh my God – it just about came out of my chest. And then I thought, 'This is real. I mean, he really has my daughter,'” said Kim Brew.

Colleen Brew said the scammer told her to drive to a store and buy $500 in prepaid cards.

“I walked inside. He told me to keep on the phone with him, and if anything goes weird, if I mute him or anything, that he would kill her and there would be nothing to talk about,” said Colleen Brew.

She said the man on the phone told her to give him the numbers on the prepaid cards, cut the cards up, then send him a photo of the cut-up cards.

The Brews said they didn’t realize until they really got each other on the phone that no one had been kidnapped after all.

Now they want to warn others to be skeptical if they get a suspicious call from a loved one’s phone number.

Cox Media Group