Scammers are now using the kidnapping of an 84-year-old Tucson woman to steal money from well-meaning strangers, and the sheriff wants it stopped before anyone else gets taken.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos issued a public warning this week about fraudulent online posts circulating with QR codes that solicit payments tied to the investigation into Nancy Guthrie's disappearance. The posts invoke the Guthrie case by name, banking on the intense public interest in a story that has gripped the country for more than five months.
The warning is blunt. In a statement reported by MEAWW, Nanos said his department is aware of the scheme and left no room for ambiguity:
"PCSD will never ask for money related to this case, or any investigation. Please do not send money to people you do not know or scan QR codes requesting payment."
He urged the public to report suspicious posts and to spread the word. It is a grim sign of where the case stands, not just unsolved, but now attracting the kind of bottom-feeders who prey on public sympathy.
A family still searching
Nancy Guthrie went missing from her Tucson home during the early morning hours of February 1. She is the mother of NBC Today anchor Savannah Guthrie, as well as her siblings Annie and Camron Guthrie. The family has been public in its anguish.
On June 23, Savannah Guthrie addressed the case on Today, speaking directly to viewers in a moment that was equal parts plea and raw grief:
"This is a new story today that's on your radar. But this is the life that my sister lives, I live, that my brother lives, that our extended family lives, that our children live every day and we are in agony."
She added: "We love our mom and we'll never stop looking for her, ever."
More than 160 days have now passed since Nancy Guthrie disappeared. The New York Post reported that no arrests have been made and no suspects have been publicly identified. That vacuum, no suspect, no proof of life, no resolution, is precisely the kind of environment in which grifters thrive.
Fake ransom notes and demand letters
The QR code scam is only the latest exploitation of the case. It follows a pattern of hoaxes that has plagued investigators and the Guthrie family for weeks.
On June 26, Sheriff Nanos appeared on The Buckmaster Show to discuss a demand letter that had been circulating online and shared across social media. He characterized the document as likely inauthentic and pointed to the FBI's ongoing work on the matter.
Nanos told the program that the FBI had already made "a number of arrests for false or fake ransom notes", though he did not specify whether any of those arrests were directly connected to the Guthrie case. He described the broader problem plainly:
"People have great interest and that's good because it helps us. But then it gets really abused."
That abuse has taken multiple forms. Before the demand letter surfaced, a separate ransom note was sent to media organizations claiming that Nancy Guthrie, described as 84 years old, had died. Savannah Guthrie addressed that claim during her June 23 Today appearance. The FBI has hedged publicly on the authenticity of the ransom communications, leaving the family and the public in a painful limbo.
Whether the ransom note sent to media and the demand letter Nanos discussed on June 26 are the same document or two separate ones remains unclear from available statements.
An investigation under scrutiny
The scam warning arrives against a backdrop of mounting questions about how the case has been handled. For five months, law enforcement has offered the public little in the way of concrete progress. No named suspects. No confirmed motive. No proof of life, and no confirmed proof of death.
That silence has drawn criticism. A retired officer publicly raised hard questions about the investigation as it passed the 100-day mark, pressing on whether the pace of the inquiry matched the severity of the crime.
Sheriff Nanos himself has been at the center of several public disputes over the investigation's direction. He has clashed with FBI Director Kash Patel over the federal agency's role, and his department has faced criticism from volunteer search organizations as well.
A rescue group alleged that the Pima County Sheriff's Department turned away volunteer search teams that wanted to assist in the effort to find Nancy Guthrie. Whether those decisions reflected sound investigative judgment or bureaucratic rigidity is a question the sheriff's office has not fully answered.
Meanwhile, Fox News reported that an FBI source cited by TMZ claimed the kidnappers allegedly panicked after reports of Nancy Guthrie's death and retreated from their ransom demands. If true, that detail suggests the case may be more volatile, and more dangerous, than the public statements have let on.
The cost of a cold trail
Cases like this one follow a grim pattern. The longer a kidnapping goes unsolved, the more it attracts con artists, conspiracy theorists, and opportunists who see public grief as a revenue stream. The QR code scam is a textbook example. Someone, unidentified and so far uncharged, saw a desperate family, a captivated audience, and an open investigation, and decided to monetize it.
Nanos's warning is the right move. But the fact that it was necessary at all speaks to how far this case has drifted without resolution. The five-month mark passed with ransom notes, a death claim, and still no answers. Now the investigation itself has become a brand that criminals exploit.
The sheriff's department says it will never ask for money. Good. But the people of Pima County, and a family that has begged for help on national television, deserve more than warnings about scams. They deserve progress.
When law enforcement cannot close a case, the vultures always circle. The only thing that sends them away is an answer.
