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Submitted by: Bill Hickey
NCVA List Master

NRT-0495 Virtual Kidnappings in Mexico Among Latest Criminal Scams:

Virtual kidnapping is Mexico's latest crime scam. Victims of the scam receive a call beginning with the cries of a child, whom callers identify as having been kidnapped, but who in reality is safe.

A hotline set up by Mexico City's police to deal with the virtual kidnapping scheme received more than 30,000 complaints from December 2007 to the end of February 2008, from which there have been eight arrests and 3,415 telephone numbers identified as being used by extorionists. The numbers have been listed on a Mexican Government Web site; however, this has done little to slow the virtual kidnapping calls.

Mexican authorities said that nearly all the calls are made from cell phones, most of them stolen. Many of the extorionists are believed to be committing the scams from prison. Mexican officials have called on cell phone providers to keep better records of cell phone users to help with the investigations.

Last autumn, after more than a dozen members of the Mexican Congress received virtual kidnapping calls, the legislature suspended business for the day. An investigation found that the lawmakers were probably not specifically targeted, but had received the calls because their cell phone numbers were consecutive.

Over the last six months, the virutal kidnapping telephone scam criminals have netted nearly $18 million dollars, according to the report.

(iht.com 29APR08)

Last Modified: Saturday, 02-Aug-2008 22:03:49 EDT