*This article was originally written April 3, 2018

A Syracuse mother is warning everyone of a possible sex trafficking scam in central New York after her daughter received a scary call.

"The man told her I had been hurt in an accident on Erie Blvd, he had me and my phone and needed her to come get me," Andrea Mascato writes on Facebook. When her daughter told the caller she was going to verify the accident with police "he told her if she called the police he would kill me. She could hear a woman crying in the background."

Mascato says her daughter tried calling her but got no answer. "I was extremely busy at work. Her other attempted calls to me went right to voicemail as did my 10 attempted calls back to her. A receptionist at work found me and told me that 911 was on the phone verifying that I was at work and for me to call my daughter. When I finally was able to get through she was hysterical."

After calling police Mascato says her daughter was told "this is a tactic of a sex trafficking ring."

The Syracuse woman is grateful her daughter was smart enough to confirm a possible crash and not rush to the scene. "If my daughter would have tried to come to me I probably never would’ve seen her or my grandson again."

The red flag? The woman had her mother's car and knew it couldn't have been in an accident. "Thank God hers wouldn’t start. I was never so relieved to hug my child and grandchild."

Mascato's post has been shared over 55,000 times in less than 24 hours.

If you receive a call like this, ALWAYS verify with police first.


BONUS VIDEO

More From Big Frog 104