Bay Area Mom Loses Thousands in Fake Kidnapping Call - Bitdefender
A Bay Area mother was tricked into paying thousands of dollars to scammers who used AI to mimic her daughter's voice and stage a fake kidnapping.
- Incident date
- May 2026
- Target
- Deborah Del Mastro
A California mother recently fell victim to a sophisticated AI-powered scam, losing thousands of dollars after believing she was hearing her kidnapped daughter's voice. The incident highlights the growing threat of AI-driven virtual kidnapping scams.
What happened
Deborah Del Mastro received a call from an unknown number where the caller claimed her adult daughter had been kidnapped by a Mexican cartel. She then heard what she believed was her daughter screaming and crying, which created a sense of panic. The caller kept Del Mastro on the phone for nearly five hours, preventing her from contacting anyone else, and pressuring her to wire approximately $5,400 to Mexico from multiple locations. After sending the money, she was instructed to go to a grocery store where her daughter would supposedly be released, but her daughter was not there. Del Mastro then contacted her daughter directly and discovered she was safe at work, realizing she had been scammed.