The parents of a man later found dead in a car in Queens were alarmed after receiving calls from a scammer claiming to have kidnapped their son and demanding a $10,000 ransom, police sources said.
Jose Rodriguez, 33, lived with his parents in Ozone Park, Queens.
The couple posted on social media that Rodriguez went missing and requested help in finding him. An unknown person, whose calls were traced to Mexico, contacted the parents and told them that Rodriguez was kidnapped and demanded the sum of money from them, sources said.
The parents, though, didn’t fork over the cash.
Instead, on Sunday evening they went straight to the 106th Precinct stationhouse and told police about the disturbing phone calls.
Two hours later, around 10:10 p.m., cops found Rodriguez dead, slumped behind the wheel of his black Honda Civic parked near 123rd St. and 89th Ave. in Richmond Hill.
Police used license plate readers, which are equipped with specialized cameras, to find Rodriguez’s car, sources said.
Police believe Rodriguez was not the victim of a crime, believing he possibly overdosed on drugs or from carbon monoxide poisoning, sources said.
The city medical examiner is conducting an autopsy for an official cause of death.
