Two teenage siblings who went missing on Monday, April 8 were found safe and sound early the following morning by Chapala police. The sister and brother, aged 14 and 16, had holed up in a local hotel after they and their parents were targeted in a common telephone extortion ploy that authorities label as “psychological kidnapping.”
According to police chief Ramon del Arco, the family received threats via phone calls originating in the state of Tamaulipas. He said the scam artists first convinced the youngsters to go into hiding and then contacted the parents, claiming to have abducted their offspring and demanding a 250,000-peso ransom for their release. After some bargaining, the family eventually coughed up 2,000 pesos in cellular phone credit.
Meanwhile, based on familiar modus operandi, police were already scouring shopping centers and hotels throughout the community in search of the missing teens.