10 out of 25 abductions reported to authorities ‘kidnap-me’ cases

NEARLY half of the kidnap-for-ransom (KFR) cases handled by the Philippine National Police Anti-Kidnapping Group (PNP-AKG) this year have turned out to be hoaxes.

In a press briefing at the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame Monday, AKG director Senior Supt. Roberto Fajardo said that of the 25 kidnapping reports they investigated from January to September, at least 10 turned out to be “kidnap-me” schemes or were perpetrated by the alleged victim.

The fake kidnap cases during the same period totaled 11, only one short of the 12 hoax kidnappings the PNP probed in 2014, Fajardo’s presentation during the press briefing showed.

“So the year isn’t over yet but last year’s fake kidnappings have already been surpassed,” he said.

According to him, seven of the hoax cases were perpetrated by Filipinos, two by Koreans and two by British nationals.

In one of the cases involving a British man, the “victim” was rescued by the AKG last Thursday in Bulacan province. He later confessed, however, that he faked his abduction two weeks ago to force his family in London to pay ransom for his release.

Fajardo declined to provide further details on the case but said that the British national remained in the custody of the AKG although he would soon be turned over to the Bureau of Immigration or the British Embassy.

“False reporting of kidnapping cases greatly affects the human and budgetary resources of the AKG” but no complaints are ever filed by those tricked into paying ransom, usually the perpetrator’s family members, the AKG chief noted.

For this reason, the AKG has turned to the Department of Justice for help in drafting a law penalizing the reporting of fake kidnappings, Fajardo said.

The number of kidnapping cases reported for this year, however, has dropped, from 50 in 2014 to only 25 for the first nine months of the year. “We hope this figure will not increase,” he told reporters.

Meanwhile, the AKG appeared to be stumped regarding the abduction of tourists—three foreigners and a Filipino—on Samal Island last Sept. 21. “There has been no sighting of the victims. No one has made contact [to make demands],” Fajardo said.