Lady’s Island father was told to pay up or his daughter would be killed, report says

A father on Lady’s Island received a call last week from his daughter’s phone with a cryptic message, according to Sheriff’s deputies — pay up or your daughter will be killed.

Beaufort County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched at about 1:30 p.m. on Monday, Jan.1 to the parking lot of the Food Lion, at 10 Sam’s Point Way on Lady’s Island, where the father was sitting in his car, according to a report from the Sheriff’s Office.

The father told deputies that he recently received a call from his daughter’s cell phone. An unknown male suspect on the phone stated he had the man’s daughter and advised him to put as much money as he could on a “Green Dot Moneypak” card.

The suspect told the father someone would meet him to get the card at the Food Lion on Lady’s Island. The suspect also threatened that if the father called the police, he would “kill his daughter and burn her vehicle,” the report said.

During this same time, the man’s daughter also received a phone call from an unknown subject at the Beaufort County Detention Center stating she missed jury duty and had a warrant out for her arrest.

The suspect on the phone told her that she needed to pay $1,800 to get rid of the warrant. The suspect advised that she should put the money on a Green Dot card and mail it to the Beaufort County Clerk of Courts, at 102 Ribaut Road in Beaufort.

The woman quickly went to the Food Lion on Lady’s Island and attempted to purchase $1,800 in Green Dot cards, but the machine was broken, according to the report.

She was able to obtain two visa cards from Food Lion, for a total of $800, and three Green Dot cards at a Family Dollar store, for a total of $300.

The suspect then demanded she read off the card numbers and the security codes and mail them the Clerk of Courts, which the woman later did.

Back at the Food Lion parking lot, deputies were with the woman’s father when he received a call from the suspect regarding his daughter’s safety.

According to the report, deputies then conducted a ‘ping’ on (the daughter’s) cell phone, which showed it was located in front of the Beaufort County Detention Center.

The deputy went to the Detention Center, where he met with the woman and looked over the receipts from her money card purchases. The deputy informed the woman that this was a “common scam tactic,” according to the report.

During the incident, the unknown suspect somehow cloned the detention center’s telephone number, along with the woman’s number, the report said.

The deputy advised the father and daughter to contact the Sheriff’s Office is any further threats or fraudulent calls were made.

No further information was available in the report.

This story was originally published January 7, 2018 at 5:03 PM with the headline "Lady’s Island father was told to pay up or his daughter would be killed, report says."