"Virtual Kidnapping" is real...And scary....

On my TV show "Seguridad Total" we have done extensive reporting warning phone users about "virtual kidnappings". Ask around...You would be suprised as to how many people have been a victim of these thugs... Who are usually calling from prison...Beware...If you get one of these phone calls...Simply hang-up...Following is an excellent article on the subject written by Marc Lacey from the New York Times...



Mexico City Journal
Exploiting Real Fears With ‘Virtual Kidnappings’
by MARC LACEY
Published: April 29, 2008
MEXICO CITY — The phone call begins with the cries of an anguished child calling for a parent: “Mama! Papa!” The youngster’s sobs are quickly replaced by a husky male voice that means business.

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Jennifer Szymaszek for The New York Times
A Mexico City poster warns, “Don’t fall prey to telephone extortion. Let’s get them!”
“We’ve got your child,” he says in rapid-fire Spanish, usually adding an expletive for effect and then rattling off a list of demands that might include cash or jewels dropped off at a certain street corner or a sizable deposit made to a local bank.

The twist is that little Pablo or Teresa is safe and sound at school, not duct-taped to a chair in a rundown flophouse somewhere or stuffed in the back of a pirate taxi. But when the cellphone call comes in, that is not at all clear.

This is “virtual kidnapping,” the name being given to Mexico’s latest crime craze, one that has capitalized on the raw nerves of a country that has been terrorized by the real thing for years. Click here to continue...