The agents warn how this modality occurs, how they obtain information and how not to be victims of this crime.
At the beginning of 2021, extortion calls from alleged members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) were given mainly to doctors and dentists in Quito, but now these calls have increased worryingly at the national level, especially in Zone 8 .
The Police Anti-kidnapping and Extortion Unit (Unase) revealed days ago that in recent weeks between three and five threatening calls per day have been reported to ECU911 in Samborondón.
The agents warn how this type of extortion occurs, how they obtain information and how not to be victims of this crime that is also registered in Colombia and Venezuela.
Suspects always make a WhatsApp call, it can be from a national or Colombian line that begins with the prefix +57. They do so because it is very likely that they operate from another country. They never use video calls or make conventional calls, the researchers detail.
From the jails, extortions are ordered from Babahoyo merchants, according to the Police
The call usually begins like this: Good afternoon, Brenda. I need to talk something urgent with you, says a man with a Colombian accent.
Then he identifies himself with a false name and begins to tell that he belongs to a dissident group of some paramilitary group and that they are watching the person, and ask for money so as not to attempt on his life.
They tell them that they know where they live, where they work, with what clothes they came out dressed and even claim that they are being watched.
“We are watching you from the cafeteria in front of your work and we are going to shoot you,” they told a man who transferred $ 1,000 to an account given to him by criminals.
Lately they also call and identify themselves as alleged members of the UTP, the Penitentiary Workers Unit, and explain that they have been hired by an acquaintance to kill people.
They offer protection to the victim in exchange for money. One of the messages received said: “But we have seen you and you seem like a good person, I don’t want to do you evil. They offered us $ 2,000 for the job. You pay us that $ 2,000 and we give you protection. I go with my boys to protect her so that no one touches me, I have 800 boys ready to protect her ”.
Many victims are scared and pay or start to negotiate and make a bank transfer, but if you pay once they will ask you for more money again, explains an agent from Unase.
They do intelligence from social networks
Researchers warn that these extortionists should be blocked and not believed the threats, as all the information they use to scare is taken from social networks.
These bands they mainly attack people who use InstagramThat is why the police recommend not uploading sensitive information.
Andrés, a professional stylist who works with screen talent, received a call from these a few days ago and in a matter of minutes he transferred $ 1,000 for fear of being killed, since he tells that they even told him what clothes he left his house that morning and that they had been following him the night before and saw him eating in a mall.
When he thought about it coldly, he noticed that all this could be known through the stories on Instagram.
During 2021, according to figures from Unase, 362 extortions have been reported in Zone 8, 140 of these cases through this modality.
For this reason, the Police recommend not answering WhatsApp calls from unknown numbers, worse if they are international numbers. If you receive the threat, block the number and do not answer.
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There have also been reports of messages being sent via WhatsApp or Facebook in which extortionists ask for help from the victim’s contacts, indicating that they need help with a transfer or that due to an emergency situation they require money.
How are the investigations going?
The agents reveal that these extortionists can be anywhere in the world, that they only need internet access and that the transfers they request are not to their personal accounts, but rather they use corporate accounts of entrepreneurs to remove merchandise for the value paid by the victim. .
For example, they allegedly buy a cell phone and make the extortion victim pay for it. This makes it more difficult to track down the extortionist. (I)
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