Police responded to an unusual incident in Bath on Friday morning, when a Bath Iron Works employee told police that he was on the phone with someone who said he had kidnapped the man’s daughter.

The man was on the phone with the alleged kidnappers outside the south gate of BIW when police arrived. The kidnappers told the man they wanted money in exchange for the adult daughter’s release. Police took the man to the Bath police station.

While the man was still on the phone with the purported kidnappers, Bath police asked officers in Gardiner to check on the adult daughter, and found her to be safe at her home there.

The number the alleged kidnappers called from – 52 656-322-5469 – had been used in other, similar scams elsewhere in the country, police found. The numbers “52” are the international calling code for Mexico.

The tactic has been used to get people to wire money to criminal enterprises, police said.