Woooosh - 8-11-2008 at 10:33 AM
You won't see this in the paper...
I had a neighbor (american) get an extortion phone call to his Rosarito Beach house this past weekend. The caller said he was a "zeta", was holding
the American captive and wanted $2000 right away- just to keep him alive for now. The phone number they called from was blocked. The house caretaker
called the police on the second line and the "zeta" overheard the other conversation, said some very bad words about his mother, and hung up. Never
called back.
The Rosarito Beach police did come to the house and told us these calls were on the rise in the area. They said a local family in the Colonia had a
relative tortured before they paid money and got him released this week. So some calls are for real, and some are copy-cats. The police don't know
who is making the calls or how they get the names and numbers but they said it could be as easy as looking for anglo names in the phone book. Luckily
our American neighbor was safe at home in the USA at the time.
[Edited on 8-11-2008 by Woooosh]
shari - 8-11-2008 at 10:43 AM
Sirena mentioned that this kind of phone call extortion is on the rise in Ensenada too and they call mexicans as well....so it's good to know where
your family members are and have quick contact methods to make sure they are bogus. I also got an email from a mexican who said they found my passport
and wanted a reward to give it to me...nope!
Woooosh - 8-11-2008 at 10:54 AM
Thanks for sharing that info. If we stay informed and know what to do- the stress will be less when the call comes. Blocked calls are a dead end-
but the e-mail should have been traceable back to the IP source (even if only to an internet cafe).
My mexican realtives in Torreon have had two fake calls in the past year. So it's not just the border.