First there were real kidnappings (you know, the typical ones: find someone who’s rich, abduct them, get money from their family), then there were express kidnappings, and now you have fake kidnappings.
As detailed in the New York Times, the ever-entrepreneurial spirit of violent criminals has manifested itself through a recent trend in fake kidnappings in Mexico City. The amazing thing to me about this is that such a scheme can even work. In, say, the U.S., given the extremely low probability of ever being held for ransom, I’m guessing people would want some sort of proof if someone called them and claimed they were holding a loved one.
Not so in Mexico.
Everyone I know from Mexico City (I was raised there and still have family there) has at least one acquaintance who has at one time or other either literally been held captive for money, or has had to physically escape from people trying to capture them. Most people I’ve ever talked to in Mexico City about kidnappings (and, believe me, it’s definitely a topic of conversation) are at two or three degrees of separation from an express-kidnapping-related murder. The odds are still low that on any given day you’ll experience – or anyone you know will experience – a kidnapping, but it’s still completely believable to think a loved one could be kidnapped at any time.
These criminals have managed to tap into a market created by the atmosphere of fear they have themselves fomented over the past decade or so. If people in Mexico weren’t already so afraid of the non-negligible risks of actually being kidnapped, I don’t see how this scheme could ever work.
