Salem couple says scammers faked kidnapping, hacked phones

SALEM, N.H. — A Salem couple tells FOX25 they were the victims of a very elaborate scam that involved a death threat and payment of ransom.

The couple asked to only be identified by their first names to protect their identities, but Bryanna and John say everyone should be aware of what happened to them.

“When they called me they'd said I had have your husband John. So they knew both of our names and our numbers and that we were married,” Bryanna told FOX25.

Initially, Bryanna said, she didn’t take the threat seriously, but then she called John’s phone to tell him about what happened.

“The same man that just called my phone answered and he was angry and said ‘why would you hang up,’” she said.

With her two children in tow, Bryanna went to a nearby CVS and withdrew $1,000 and wired it to an account in Puerto Rico as the alleged kidnapper requested.

That’s when the scammers got even more serious. One person kept Bryanna on the phone while another called her husband and started running the same scam on him.

John was at work when he got the call and suspected a scam, until the scammers momentarily merged the two calls.

“Him putting her on the phone sold it for me hands down if he hadn't put her on the phone I would have hung up,” John said.

The scam finally unraveled when Bryanna drove to John’s work and they realized they had been had,

“It all comes out afterward but you’re not thinking clearly at the time Yesterday morning,” she said.

Police in Salem, New Hampshire and the FBI are investigating the incident.

Cox Media Group