Additional charges may be forthcoming against a Lynn woman who allegedly participated in a scheme to extort money from strangers by saying their loved ones had been kidnapped, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.

MARY R. LOZADA (D.O.B. 1/4/76) was held on $5,000 cash bail today following her arraignment in Roxbury District Court on two counts each of extortion by threat of injury, larceny over $250, and conspiracy to commit larceny. In addition to setting bail, Judge Pamela Dashiell also ordered Lozada to stay away from the Western Union locations she allegedly visited to collect the extortion payoffs.

Assistant District Attorney Benjamin Goldberger of Conley’s Special Prosecutions Unit told the court that the current charges reflect two of as many as 30 separate incidents in which Lozada allegedly participated. Goldberger also noted that the two phones used in the charged offenses have been linked to eight other extortion calls, only one of which was successful.

Lozada was charged today with participating in two schemes. The first came on June 8, when a Jamaica Plain woman received a phone call from a male who spoke to her in Spanish, stated he had her son, and threatened to kill him if she did not wire the captors $1500. The victim told Boston Police that the caller ultimately settled for $700, which she wired to “Amarilis Cordova” via Western Union. The woman was later able to make contact with her son, who was at a friend’s house and had not been kidnapped.

The second scheme was perpetrated June 9 on a Dorchester man who also received a call from a male speaking in Spanish. This time, the caller posed as a friend of the victim’s son, saying that the son was being held against his will and wouldn’t be released until his captors were wired $1,000. The victim was able to negotiate the ransom to $500, which was also wired to “Amarilis Cordova” through Western Union. As with the earlier incident, the victim later learned that his son was never in danger.

Lozada allegedly collected the money from the first call at 43 Broad St. in Lynn and the second at 35 Washington St., also in Lynn. Her presence at those locations was established through a photographic array and surveillance images. These are the locations Lozada is currently prohibited from visiting.

Prosecutors say that these incidents were similar to others that took place in Boston, Chelsea, Revere, and Lynn throughout the spring. Most of the attempts were unsuccessful, but some victims believed the threats and wired money to the caller. Those cases remain under investigation by police and prosecutors in Suffolk and Essex counties.

Investigators urged anyone who had received such calls to contact their local police departments.

Lozada was represented today by Norm Orban, who is supervised by the Committee for Public Counsel Services.