Nancy Guthrie Update: FBI Issues Major Warning

As the FBI continues to investigate the apparent kidnapping of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, the mother of "Today" show host Savannah Guthrie, the reward for information leading to her safe return has increased dramatically, and that's led to a firm warning from the FBI.

The FBI has long been offering a significant cash reward to anyone with information that would lead to Guthrie's safe return. Now, with the family offering its own significantly larger reward, the FBI is warning anyone trying to take advantage of the family.

Reward Keeps Growing

As the Nancy Guthrie investigation continues, the reward for her safe return has steadily grown.

Initially, the FBI was offering a $50,000 reward, but the bureau doubled that amount last week, bringing its total reward to $100,000.

Additionally, 88-CRIME, a local anonymous tip line, announced last week that it had received a $100,000 donation. Combined with the $2,500 that was already being offered by 88-CRIME, that makes the total reward $102,500.

On top of those three rewards, Milwaukee-based lawyer Michael Hupy announced that he was offering a $100,000 reward in conjunction with Crime Stoppers after “having seen no progress” in Guthrie’s case.

Additionally, Savannah Guthrie posted a video on Instagram this week announcing a new reward of $1 million to anyone with information leading to her safe return.

All in all, that brings the total reward to over $1.3 million to anyone with information leading to her safe return.

FBI Issues a Major Warning

As the reward continues to grow, the FBI has issued a rather firm warning to anyone

Earlier this week, the FBI posted a message urging anyone with “firsthand knowledge of Nancy’s whereabouts or any information about where she may be located” to call the FBI tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324).

However, the bureau urged everyone to only call the tip line with real, serious tips, not well-wishes or personal theories.

"To help keep the tip line available for actionable investigative law enforcement leads, please submit only serious and detailed fact-based information - no well-wishes or case theories. The tip line is not for personal messages to the Guthrie family," the FBI wrote in a statement.

The following day, Harvey Levin of TMZ shared a much firmer warning from the FBI, threatening legal action against anyone "trying to scam" the family after it put up the $1 million reward.

"[The FBI] wants serious leads only, and they want to make it clear: anyone trying to scam the Guthrie family, they will be prosecuted," Levin said in the video.

Levin went on to explain that while the Guthrie case is "becoming a cold case," all it takes is one helpful tip to open the case up again.

"Even though this is becoming a cold case, and it is clearly one of the reasons why the Guthrie family has upped the reward, that doesn't mean that it's over," Levin said. "As one FBI source put it, 'It just takes that one person.' And they believe it's going to happen at some point – one person who opens his or her mouth, and the case cracks wide open."