Express kidnapping: The changing nature of security threats in Latin America

A professional dog walker is approached in a park in Mexico City by a criminal who pulls a gun, steals a dog — English and American bulldogs are favorite targets — and uses the pet’s identity tag to contact the owner and demand a ransom.

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With more than 100 dognappings reported to police in Mexico annually, it’s a crime that is symptomatic of the changing nature of the security threat in Latin America. Attracted by the opportunity to make money more quickly and with less risk, criminal gangs have started to move away from traditional longer term kidnaps to short term crimes such as express and virtual kidnappings, extortions, threats and dognapping.

Express kidnaps proliferate

Traditional kidnap cases, where the victim is held for weeks or months, are increasingly now more likely to be confined to Latin America’s rural areas or in smaller towns/cities; places where criminals can more easily hold and hide their victims. In the big cities however, criminal gangs are showing a preference for express kidnappings where they might take a victim to an ATM for a quick payout.

While they make less money for each kidnap — typically in the region of $10-$20,000 — the rapid turnaround of each crime means they are free to turn it into a higher volume business. Instead of kidnapping one person for $100,000, they run less risk by kidnapping 10 people for $10,000 each.

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In one sense this changing kidnap tactic speaks to the authorities’ success throughout Latin America in dealing with bigger kidnapping incidents and the use of better technology making it easier for kidnappers to get caught through cell phone tracking for example. Criminals want to minimize their exposure which is why the there is now a proliferation of smaller, more agile crimes.

Gangs have become less specialized, more diversified and are doing anything they can to make quick money to the extent that pretty much any Latin American city now has an express or virtual kidnapping threat (where criminals manage to convince a victim that they are holding a family member to extract a ransom). And the situation is unlikely to change while security — compromised by inadequate police resources, corruption and economic crises — continues to present such a challenge.

In Venezuela for example, Caracas has experienced a resurgence of short-term, express kidnappings in November and December 2017; serving to highlight what happens when a country’s economy begins to collapse and income disparity grows between rich and poor.

Taking evasive measures

As a consequence, families living in these regions need to exercise greater caution where their lifestyle and wealth may mark them out as potential targets, while businesses need to be more focused on their duty of care. Employees must be well briefed and aware of the risk while businesses must make sure that prudent security measures are taken.

Precautions could include ensuring employees’ living quarters are based in the same building, providing secure means of movement between work and home and, above all, having a protocol in place that everyone knows what to do in the event of a problem.

While no one should be under the illusion that full blown kidnapping has been consigned to the history books — the whole border area with the U.S. along the Texas border and down the coast of Mexico to Veracruz for example are still hotspots — the relative ease with which criminals can carry out an express or virtual kidnap should put everyone on high alert.

If criminals see you in a nice car and it looks like you have some money, it’s much easier today to become a victim in Latin America, whether it’s you, a family member, an employee, or even a much loved pet.

Related: The real risk of virtual kidnapping at home and abroad

Elman Myers is the managing director of Hiscox Special Risks in Miami. He can be reached at Elman.Myers@HISCOX.com.