Fernando
1) In your 2009 book you
described a type of crime that arose in Argentina after the 2001 collapse--virtual kidnapping. In the
past, this crime was unknown in the USA but the news here is now reporting that
hundreds of such crimes have occurred recently in New York.
An excerpt:
[ Reuters) - In a new
wrinkle to an old crime, hundreds of New Yorkers have been tricked into paying
ransoms by wire transfer to callers who falsely claim to have kidnapped their family
members, according to the FBI.
In these "virtual
kidnappings," scammers make random calls to find their victims, saying a
loved one has been snatched and demanding the immediate transfer of small sums
of money to have them released, the FBI said.
Some calls feature screaming
in the background to convince a victim of the authenticity of an abduction, the
FBI said.
"There have been
hundreds of the hoax kidnappings just in New York over the last
18 months," FBI
spokesman Peter Donald said on Wednesday. "This is hundreds of people
who have actually wired
money to them." ]
Don
...
Thanks Don.
This is very
concerning and it’s a serious indicator as of where things are heading.
Some folks think that
virtual kidnappings are pranks or almost harmless practical jokes so maybe a
little more explanation is in order, so here it goes:
Yes, if you get a call from
someone telling you they have your wife while she’s right next to you or your
kids and you can verify that they are in school in five minutes its not much a
big deal. Not pleasant, but not dangerous. These kind of very rudimentary cons
go along the lines of the Nigerian prince email. Some people will fall for it,
while lots of folks wont. The problem starts when it’s a bit more advanced than
a random phone call and there’s more and better intel involved. The key for a
good virtual kidnaping is knowledge and timing. You have to know that the
person is cut from communication with the family, you have to know there’s
going to be enough time, and its even better if the family was not expecting to
be unable to communicate.
A couple examples that have
happened before. A guy at the office has a mistress. Someone there knows that
while the wife thinks he’s working, he’s really at the hotel, and he turns his
phone off. Or maybe the mistress(or maybe it’s a prostitute) knows this, shares
the information with accomplices. Lets say they have an hour to work with. They
call, tell the wife they know who his husband is, maybe send a picture, and
that she has one hour to give them $100.000. She calls his husband and is
unable to communicate. She gets a call again demanding the money. She says she
hasn’t got that kind of money, that she only has X amount available. This has
happened with sudden, unexpected trips, even with new jobsites where there’s
poor signal. It has happen with people that lost their phone or got their phone
stolen (and the wrong person happened to catch that bit of information, or
stole the phone themselves). Basically any moment when you’re a) unable to be
reached b) some scumbag knows about it, it can be used against you.
Express Kidnappings
This is where it gets scary.
While virtual kidnapping are still pretty bad in terms of getting money taken
away from you, an express kidnapping is very much a real one. Basically the
criminals just drive around and randomly pick up a victim based on looks, the
car he/she drives, the clothes worn or even just the neighborhood the person is
in. In Argentina they specifically targeted private school kids based on their
uniform. When they so a private school uniform they knew that person at least
had 500 bucks or so for school, so logically he was likely to have money. It
got so bad that for some times many schools allowed pupils not to wear uniforms
any more. So the victim is snatched, the family is contacted and money is
requested for the vicitms safe release.
There’s several reasons why
express kidnappings are so common, in many ways so successful and hard to stop.
1)Time. Its fast, a couple
hours, maybe a few minutes even. In general smaller amounts of money are
requested, maybe what’s available at home or what can be accessed with a quick
trip to the bank. With so little time there’s a chance the police wont even be
contacted, and if they are, there’s not much they can do, organize and
formulate a plan.
2)Mobility. Many times the
victim isn’t even located in a specific spot. Victims are usually kept mobile
in the same vehicle they were taken. Maybe they take him driving around ATMs
before making the call for ransom. Criminals drive the person around town while
making the call and arranging the delivery of money. Many times the victims
cell phone is used, but by driving around its practically impossible to track
them to the exact location once the phone is disabled. Combined with the fast
nature of the crime, it’s unlikely that it will be even reported, let alone
tracked.
3)Lack of connection between
kidnapper and victim. In traditional kidnappings there’s a leak of some kind,
or someone that knew about the victim and his financial situation. Usually a
business partner, acquaintance or even family members are involved in the
conspiracy. There’s no such thing in an express kidnap. The victim and
kidnappers don’t know one another at all. This make it extra difficult for the
police to investigate and find a suspect.
Express kidnappings are
still a daily problem in Argentina. I know of people that have been kidnapped
and held captive for days. I even know one guy that was kidnapped on two
occasions and escaped both! But express kidnaps are far more common and the
advice given to the victims that bothered going to the police was always the
same: just pay and get it over with.
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”.
1 comment:
I don't deal with people at my front door or on the phone. Before they can say anything I say I'm not interested. I would do exactly the same to this scam. I suppose this means if someone kidnaps my kids then they are stuck with them. I have always joked that if someone kidnapped my kids they would beg me to take them back after a few days. Anyway don't get caught up listening to people you don't know who come to you to sell or "give" you something. Simply hang up or shut the front door.
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