Earlier this year, a 69-year-old woman living in Madrid received a phone call from a man speaking with a foreign accent, telling her that her daughter had been kidnapped, and he addressed her saying: “You have to pay us 10,000 euros, or we will send a video of you watching us.” In it as we cut one of your daughter's fingers ». Using very heavy language, the caller demanded the immediate sending of this large amount of money, and as the woman was heading to the bank, with the alleged hijacker remaining on the line, the police arrested her, and her husband informed her. An officer assured her that her daughter was in her workplace, and she did not know what was going on.

This is the latest known case of this type of extortion, in which criminals claim they have kidnapped a person - often randomly chosen - and try to persuade their relatives. And often they start asking for a ransom of up to 10 thousand euros, then they reduce this amount significantly, sometimes to 500 euros.

During the past five years, Spain witnessed 1474 reports of this type of fraud, according to figures issued by the Ministry of the Interior, half of them occurred in 2016, with up to four reports a day during the month of July.

Significant decrease

The number of reported cases has decreased significantly since then, with 104 cases registered in 2018. There was a slight increase, last year, with 136 cases reported. During this time period, law enforcement agencies arrested 17 persons, or interrogated them.

But the chief inspector, Juan Alculia, of the National Police’s Abduction and Extortion Department, notes that many cases are not reported in this type of crime: “Many people, who do not pay, do not report to the police.” Another problem, Alculia points out, when it comes to arrests: "In most cases, the perpetrators are not in Spain but in South America, and more specifically in Chile." These people are often imprisoned, have access to cell phones, and "call randomly phone numbers." Alkulia notes that there have been “cases of calls reaching the headquarters of the conservative Popular Party, or to social security offices. And they make a lot of failed calls. ”

This expert adds that distance is not an impediment for them, to receive funds, and that a joint investigation team was formed with the Chilean police, in an attempt to reduce fraud. A civilian guard says: “Mostly, these criminals urge the victim to go to a call center to transfer money to their country, although we have seen some cases where they request payment in virtual currency (in training).”

"We cannot prevent a criminal inside a prison in Chile, Colombia, or Peru from making a call to Spain," says the source. He looks very nervous, and wants to transfer money on the phone. We also provide citizens with information so they can know how to proceed if they receive one of these calls. ” In the past five years, experts say criminals have perfected their technique. "Sometimes, in order to make the story more authentic, these criminals take advantage of personal information, which victims have shared on social media," says the civil guard.

Both sources say that there are Mexican people with experience of this type of fraud, who are searching for Spanish citizens on a trip in Mexico, then persuading them to change hotels, and then contact the victims' families, to claim that their loved ones have been kidnapped, and are being held in an unknown location.

Members of a Spanish band, Delorian, went through this experience in October 2013, when criminals asked their relatives in the Basque Country to pay five million pesos (300,000 euros), but the fraud was aborted through a joint operation between the Spanish police and the Basque Country.

- Sometimes, in order to make the story more credible, the perpetrators take advantage of personal information, which victims have shared on social media.

During the past five years, Spain has witnessed 1474 reports of this type of fraud, according to figures released by the Ministry of the Interior. Half of them occurred in 2016, with up to four reports a day, during July.