LANCASTER TOWNSHIP, Pa. –Police surrounded a Lancaster Township home Monday after a woman reported that her sister was being held hostage at gunpoint and had been shot.
It turns out the shooting never happened and it was a hoax. Police believe someone was trying to scam the woman’s sister out of money.
According to police reports, 911 dispatchers in Lancaster County received a call from a woman in Bucks County around 10:20 a.m. who said her sister was being held hostage at her home along Cold Stream Road in Lancaster Township. The woman told dispatchers she had received a call from someone demanding money for the release of her relative.
Officers responded to the area and discovered no one was at home. Investigators made contact with the woman’s sister, who was not hurt and was unaware of the incident.
Police believe it was all part of an elaborate telephone scam.
If you receive a phone call from an unfamiliar number and the caller demands money from you, or tells you that someone you know is hurt or being held hostage, chances are it’s a hoax.
Anyone who receives one of these calls should refrain from disclosing personal information and call police right away.
