Phone scam tries to coerce ransoms

A new telephone scam has been making the rounds recently, in which a Spanish-speaking man threatens to hold victims' family members against their will unless they pay a ransom, according to police. A township woman nearly fell victim to this scheme on Thursday, when police say she received a telephone call on her cellular phone from a man who said that her son had been involved in a car accident in Florida and that he would be detained until $3,500 was paid. The man, who spoke Spanish, demanded that the woman give him her bank account number so he could withdraw money, police said.