Overview

• Criminals use call diversion and merging to link two unsuspecting victims in a single call and simulate a kidnapping scenario.
• In Ecatepec, municipal police report 17 extortion attempts targeting minors home alone during the vacation period over the past week.
• The Fiscalía General de Justicia del Estado de México has opened multiple investigation files into cross-call extortion and CDMX’s Cyber Police has issued public alerts.
• Scammers impersonate authorities or employees to coerce victims into leaving their homes and then pressure relatives to pay ransom.
• Officials advise families to set emergency passwords, limit personal information on social media, hang up on suspicious calls and report them to numbers like 911, 088 or C7i.