1490 Franklin Avenue

BRUCE BLAKEMAN Mineola, New York 11501 PATRICK J. RYDER

COUNTY EXECUTIVE COMMISSIONER OF POLICE
(516) 573-7000

October 6, 2022

Over the past year the FBI has observed an increase in reports of “Virtual Kidnapping” scams.
Recently there have been a series of incidents which occurred in Suffolk County impacting local
schools. They involved family members being contacted while their child was actually at school.
To date Nassau County has not received any reports of this type of activity but I wanted to
proactively provide information on this crime.

Virtual Kidnapping involves a party contacting the victim via Phone, Text or E-mail and stating
that they have kidnapped or are about to kidnap a family member. The perpetrators often have
some descriptive details about the victim and may sound very convincing. They will often
demand immediate payment of ransom and will not allow the caller to hang-up. Often times the
information used in the call has been obtained through open-source social media.

Working with the resources of the Nassau County Police Department as well as our partner
agencies in law enforcement we have put together some information based on best practices to
help protect the public against Virtual Kidnapping. Attached you will find an informational flyer
on this topic.

I encourage you to share this information with your community.

Sincerely,

Patrick J. Ryder
Commissioner of Police