With the goal of preventing the crime of extortion in the municipality, the Los Cabos Coordinating Council (CCC) and the State Attorney General’s Office (PGJE) have launched an awareness campaign to alert the productive sector and the public about the various forms of this crime.
Among the most reported forms in the region is “virtual kidnapping,” a type of extortion in which criminals trick the victim into believing that a family member or loved one has been kidnapped, when in fact this is not the case.
This initiative arose as a result of a meeting held months ago between both agencies, in which progress in security was evaluated and an agreement was reached to strengthen crime prevention through official information and training strategies. The executive president of the CCC, Julio Castillo Gómez, highlighted the importance of this campaign:
“We are sending official information sent to us by the Attorney General’s Office to support the dissemination of a campaign to prevent extortion. This is part of one of the agreements from the last security meeting, to which we committed ourselves and were tasked with disseminating this information to our collaborators, partners, and citizens to train them and inform them about extortion methods and warn them not to fall for it, as some have fallen victim to new forms of this type of extortion,” said Julio Castillo Gómez, executive president of the Los Cabos Coordinating Council.
State authorities have warned that one of the warning signs is receiving silent calls in which, upon answering, the caller immediately hangs up. This could indicate that criminals are checking if the line is active to include it in databases and subsequently attempt fraud or extortion.
Authorities urged the public to remain calm, not provide personal information, hang up on calls, safeguard evidence such as screenshots, inform family members, and immediately report the incident to the appropriate authorities.
Among the most reported cases in the region is “virtual kidnapping,” a type of extortion in which criminals trick the victim into believing that a family member or loved one has been kidnapped, when in fact this is not true. Through deception and threats, they seek to profit from the situation and obtain money in exchange for a supposed “ransom.”
In response to these cases, authorities urged the public to remain calm, not provide personal information, hang up on calls, safeguard evidence such as screenshots, inform family members, and immediately report the incident to the appropriate authorities.
Source: tribunademexico
