Here I have linked kidnapping and assassination together, because the initial planning for both crimes is the same, just the outcomes can be different. So, here you will learn how criminals would plan such crimes.

If you are working in any of the emerging markets of Africa, Latin America or Eastern Europe, you need to be aware of the threat of kidnapping. The fact that you are a foreigner is enough to make you a target, as does the fact you are wearing expensive clothing and jewelry. In some places, if the criminals can make a few hundred dollars off you, they will be happy. The days are gone when only wealthy and high-profile people were targeted for kidnapping.

Most people should never be faced with the threat of being targeted for assassination. In some of the emerging markets, assassination is the unofficial way of solving business disputes, as assassins are cheaper to hire than lawyers! I tell my clients that I place the threat from blackmail and kidnapping a lot higher than that of assassination. Think about it, if someone is executed what use are they? None! They have just been removed from the equation. If someone can be entrapped, blackmailed and manipulated they can provide the criminals with an ongoing source of funds or information etc. If someone is kidnapped, they are an asset which can be sold for a ransom. You must take all this into consideration when faced with business problems in the emerging markets, even if the disputes are over a minor amount of funds or assets.

Now we will talk about the main points of how a criminal group would plan a kidnapping or an assassination. If a criminal group is looking for sporadic targets of opportunity for an express kidnapping, they would have been looking for nearly the same characteristics in their victim as a street mugger. The criminals will watch you to see if you look like you are worth kidnapping, listen to which languages you speak to shop keepers or waiters, assess you to see what is your level of personal security, and if you can defend yourself?

The easiest way to assess someone’s personal security is to go up to them and ask them a question, like what’s the time. The criminals will be able to assess from your reaction and body language if you are security aware or not. Always be suspicious of strangers, male or female, who approach and talk to you, even if they seem nice. You must always be aware of your surroundings and watch for anyone following or watching you, if for example you see the same person several times in different locations, start to take precautions and be ready for a potential problem.

If a criminal group is specifically targeting you for a kidnapping or assassination, they will need to select a time, place and method to carry out their plans. To do so, they will need to build a picture of your routine and lifestyle. They will be looking for a pattern in your daily schedule, so that they can predict when you will be at a certain place, at a certain time so, they can then kidnap or assassinate you.

It is difficult for people not to form predictable routines; humans are creatures of habit. The most common places for kidnappings or assassinations to take place are at the victim’s place of business, their residence or when they are in or around their vehicles. Almost every day you will be in at least one of these locations- if not all three. The criminals will want to assess your standard of personal security; for instance, are you armed, do you use security personnel and are they competent, does your home have alarms or guard dogs?

The primary way to get this type of information on someone is to put them under surveillance. Methods of surveillance vary and can include getting people to watch and follow the targets or using remote listening devices and cameras in their place of business, home or vehicle. With today’s technology, surveillance techniques can also include hacking a target’s computer or smartphone and intercepting their e-mails and messages. Think about it: if you were going to a foreign country on business and a criminal intercepted your e-mails for a week or so before you left, they would probably have a very good idea of your whole itinerary.

These days most people have at least one computer and when traveling take a laptop or iPad etc. Think about how many people can access your computer, for example work colleagues at the office. If you leave your computer at the office overnight can maintenance, security or cleaning staff get access to it? There have been cases of corporate espionage where private detectives have placed agents within the cleaning and security staff working at their targets offices, just so they can have access to the target company’s computers and trash. Most people would not consider the threat of some fat and bumbling night shift security guard downloading business data from their computers and copying confidential papers, but you should!

When you’re traveling do you leave your laptop in your hotel room and is it at least password protected? You cannot carry your computers around with you all the time so, one thing to do is to keep minimum information on them. Keep all your sensitive information in cold storage on thumb drives, hard drives or SD cards, which you can always keep on your person. Then if someone accesses your computer or it’s lost or stolen then the criminals won’t get any worthwhile information.

Another common way to gain information on someone, a technique which is used by criminals, intelligence and law enforcement agencies alike, is to go through their target’s garbage. These days a lot of people shred sensitive papers to prevent identity theft, but do they shred their grocery store receipts? Grocery store receipts have a time, date and location on them. For example, if over a three-week period, the criminals were able to find receipts from a local grocery store in your garbage, which show a checkout time between 10 am and 11 am for the past three Saturday mornings, they would have identified a potential routine. On the next Saturday, it would make sense for the criminals to send someone to the grocery store at nine o’clock in the morning to wait and see if you turned up. Then to photograph who you were with, where you parked your car and if you are paying attention to the environment. They could also use this opportunity to test your security by getting a young lady to ask you for help carrying her bags to her car.

All sensitive paperwork needs to be destroyed; shredded papers can be put back together, so you need to ensure they are burned. Another method is to soak papers in water until the ink runs, and the paper turns to mush.

Criminals will also look to recruit or blackmail your employees and force them to give out your itinerary, and information on your business. This is why you must ensure that all you employees are vetted out, supervised by trusted personnel, and that all sensitive information is kept on a need-to-know basis. I do not blame people that are forced by criminals to provide information on their employers, in the emerging markets a lot of times they have little choice but to comply with the criminal’s demands or face the consequences.

The initial approach usually offers the employee cash or favors if they assist the criminals, if they reject the offers then family members will be contacted directly and threatened with violence or sexual assault. What’s the employee to do, go to the police, who in many places fear, or are working with the criminals. Consider what you would do if you were working in a volatile Latin American country and you find out that one of your employee’s daughters has been threatened with being gang raped if the employee does not give the criminals your travel schedule. This is not a joke, consider what you would do!

If the threat is coming from, say, a known business rival, or if in your business you frequently meet personally with new clients, the criminals will just have to arrange a meeting with you at a place suitable for the kidnapping or assassination. Meetings should be considered high risk as people know where you will be at a specific time. When the criminals have identified your routine and have chosen a place to kidnap or assassinate you, they will then have to choose a method. If your threat is from professional criminals, and you do not identify that you are being targeted before the criminal’s strike, the chances are you will be successfully kidnapped or assassinated.

You must learn to identify and avoid potential problems, forget the martial arts and Hollywood fight scenes; if it gets to the stage where you are having to get into a fight for your life, the chances are you have screwed up somewhere, or are somewhere you shouldn’t be. There are usually two outcomes to a fight, someone goes to prison and someone goes to hospital. In the 3rd world countries, you definitely don’t want to go to prison, but if you don’t defend yourself, there is a very good chance you’ll be going into captivity or to the morgue.

Orlando “Andy” Wilson

Books on Amazon
Kidnap & Ransom: The Essentials of Kidnapping Prevention
This book will show you some of the realities of the kidnap and ransom business and give some basic information on what you can do to make yourself a harder target.
Audio Book @ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FF37XDKM
Kindle @ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BVPQTS7
Paper Back @ https://www.amazon.com/dp/1719057311
Hard Cover @ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FKSP91JK