While in the US recent news has focused on cyberbullying, Inside Costa Rica has a story about how criminals in Guatemala are using the internet to help facilitate kidnappings. The kidnappers are exploiting information found on various social networking websites (Facebook, Hi5, MySpace and Tagged) to make contacts with youth primarily between the ages of 10 and 25.
Investigators have information about five cases in which the kidnappers chose their victims through those sites. The targets are chiefly people between 10 and 25 years old who are invited by unknown persons who claim to be of the same age.
Guatemalan authorities reported that five or six kidnapping gangs are operating in the country, but a new one using that method is being sought.
The kidnappers begin operating when they create false accounts on those websites, with false data and photos. Then they invite the victims to chat, they get their information, and finally they abduct them.
Like most crimes in Guatemala, authorities are having a difficult time doing anything about it. The Public Ministry claims that the social networking accounts are created at cybercafes which makes it difficult for them to identify and track down the kidnappers.
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