‘I’ve Got Your Daughter’: Mom Receives Call from Daughter, Hears Man’s Voice Soon After

A mother was horrified when she received a phone call from her sobbing daughter and a strange man who demanded $1 million.

No mother wants to hear their child calling from the clutches of some masked figure, crying for help and insisting their life is in danger. Every parent dreads not knowing where their child is, hoping they are safe. For Jennifer DeStefano, her fears quickly became a reality when she received a call from an unknown number.

The Scottsdale, Arizona, local received a blood-curdling call while sitting at her daughter's dance studio. Although the number that showed up on her phone was an unidentified one, DeStefano decided to answer the call, since one of her kids was on a skiing trip, and something horrible could have happened.

Wondering what could be the reason for the unexpected call, DeStefano answered to the sound of one of her daughters' voices. As her child cried on the phone, DeStefano's blood turned to ice, and panic rose in her chest. The world dropped out from beneath her, and DeStefano remembered hearing over the phone:

"'Mom!' and she's sobbing. I said, 'What happened?' And she said, 'Mom, I messed up,' and she's sobbing and crying. Then I hear a man's voice say, 'Put your head back. Lie down,' and I'm like, 'Wait, what is going on?'"

DeStefano continued, explaining that a strange man got on the phone, threatening her daughter's wellbeing in numerous ways if DeStefano contacted anyone for outside help. The man assured her that he had her daughter and wanted a staggering amount of ransom money for her safe release.

While the stranger spoke about what he would do if DeStefano didn't cooperate, the now frantic mother could hear her daughter in the background. DeStefano recalled "And at that moment, I just started shaking. In the background, she's going, 'Help me, Mom. Please help me. Help me,' and bawling."

What Really Happened?

By this time, the other moms at the dance studio had realized what was happening. They all offered help, with one calling 911. DeStefano was desperately trying to keep the abductor on the line and trying to negotiate her daughter's release. The man initially wanted $1 million, much to DeStefano's despair.

The group of concerned moms reached DeStefano's husband to give him the horrible news, but his reaction wasn't what they expected.

DeStefano told the man she couldn't afford to pay him that much money, and the man changed his price to $50000 instead. The entire time, the frightened mom begged him not to hurt her daughter. But the longer the conversation dragged on, the more apparent it became that something was seriously amiss.

Many helpful but potentially dangerous tools have been created with recent developments in artificial intelligence technology. One of these is the same tool the man claiming to have DeStefano's daughter used — an AI tool used to clone voices. DeStefano noted that she had no doubt it was really her daughter.

According to Professor Subbarao Kambhampati, a computer scientist well-versed in AI, the number of voice samples an AI system requires and the amount of time necessary to study them have decreased dramatically over the last few years. It now only takes an AI system about three seconds to make a perfect clone of a voice.

These clones are so convincing because they mimic a voice and the inflections. Dan Mayo, an agent with the FBI's Phoenix branch, noted that many scammers find voice samples on social media. He advised looking out for unfamiliar area codes calling, international numbers, and a reticence to let you talk to your significant other.

Identifying whether it is a scammer is essential. Mayo suggested a few tactics to find out what's really going on. The first is to keep the person talking and to slow the process down with questions. Another helpful tip is to ask things that only the apparently abducted family member would know.

How Did Jennifer DeStefano's Scary Case with Her Daughter End?

After the scammer demanded $50000, she kept him on the phone. Meanwhile, the other moms were getting in contact with the police and calling anyone who might help. While DeStefano couldn't get off the phone and kept the scammer talking, another mom volunteered to call DeStefano's husband.

The group of concerned moms reached DeStefano's husband to give him the horrible news, but his reaction wasn't what they expected. The husband informed them all that it was impossible for their daughter to have been abducted because she was sitting upstairs in her room at that very second. DeStefano recalled:

"She was upstairs in her room going, 'What? What's going on?' Then I get angry, obviously, with these guys. This is not something you play around with."

Relieved and still rattled from the shock of the recent ordeal, DeStefano hung up the phone and took a moment to gather her bearings. The stress of the entire thing caught up to her, and she admitted to bursting out in tears as she sat there, relieved it was all a hoax. But DeStefano isn't the first to be targeted like this.

Mayo shared that these types of scams are increasingly common and warned people to be wary of what they share on social media. Although scams like these happen every day, not all of the victims choose to report them, so the exact numbers are still unknown. Mayo shared:

"I think a lot of people are kind of decompressing when they realize that it was a fake scam and probably just happy that it didn't happen to them. However, there are some people who give in to these, and they end up sending the money to these individuals."

Mayo also wanted to assure people that the FBI is doing its best to find those responsible for scams these types of scams, and they have already caught a few. He highlighted how important it is to keep calm, keep things slow, and ask as many questions as possible that only the kidnapped individual would know.

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