PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Got this from my sister Kim, wanting to warn people especially with AI getting better and better. \=

I typically don't post stuff like this, but I wanted to share. Today I missed a phone call from a WV 681 number, assuming it was someone from work, I called it back, no one answered. I figured they'd call back. They did. The woman on the phone sounded like my sister so much so that you would have a hard time convincing me otherwise. She was sobbing, saying "Sissy, please come get me. Please help me." Only one person in the world calls me that, and it's my sister. Then a man gets on the phone, and says he's with the Los Angeles County Sherriff Department and needs me to come get my sister. When I say I'm in WV, he tells me "I know, we brought her to WV." He tells me my sister is fine but needs me to pick her up, and if I will just text the number he's calling from he will drop me a pin with the location to meet him. The whole time I can hear the woman that sounds like my sister begging me to help her. So I hung up and called my sister. She is perfectly fine. So I called Beckley PD to report the scam. They said this is an on-going investigation, they are aware, and it is a trafficking/ransom scam. They said the scammers are using AI and accessing people's Facebook, Instagram, and other social media to make it sound like a family member. The number they called from was WV number 681-358-2991. Be safe out there people.