Corozal Family Duped by Virtual Kidnappers in Mexico
Tonight, a Corozal family is still trying to catch its breath after a terrifying ordeal that felt like a nightmare come to life. A mechanic from San Narciso, Joe Mendez, says he got the kind of phone call every parent dreads, a stranger claiming his two daughters and son-in-law had been kidnapped in Mexico, and would be killed unless the family came up with forty thousand Belize dollars by the next day. Panicked and desperate, the families scrambled to reach their loved ones, contacted authorities, and pulled together whatever money they could. They were even sent photos and allowed a brief, emotional call before the line went dead. It wasn’t until much later that they learned the truth: the young adults had never been physically taken. They were victims of a virtual kidnapping scheme, hackers who accessed their phones, tracked their movements, and threatened them into silence. Earlier today, Joe Mendez walked us through the fear, confusion, and heartbreak his family endured during those agonizing hours.
On the Phone: Joe Mendez
On the Phone: Joe Mendez, Father of Kidnapping Victim’s
“After a few minutes, we got a buzz from the fiscalia and started talking to my nephew Oliver. And they told us not to give no money because this is virtual and kidnapping, not kidnapping, like literally, right? Like if you have a gunpoint or something. They’re being threatened, if they’re going to kill them and such thing. But we can’t run the risk. We don’t know nothing from that side, right? We are on the Belizean side, and there is other jurisdiction. So, I tried to call the police here in Orange Wack. Nobody answered. I dialed 911. Nobody answered. Then I have a cousin that is a police officer, and I call him, then he hand me over to Mr. Rejon. He is from Special Branch in Corozal, and I explained the situation to him and he told me that they can’t do nothing here right now because Mexico is another jurisdiction. And he told me if I could try and get police assistance there before going to deliver any money. But by that time, Mr. Rosales had already gone, no. And I was trying to contact him and tell him what couldn’t go through, because according to them, the person that was holding my daughter and his son told him that he has to remove his chip and put a Mexican chip and put internet. And so they were dealing with him directly over there with a Mexican chip. They told him that if he deposited the hundred thousand pesos first, they will release my older daughter. So they did. So by the time he deposited the money after a few minutes, my daughter showed up with a Uber and then they told him that if they want to see the other two, they have to deposit the next a hundred thousand. So they did, so they deposited the other next hundred thousand, but by that time, the fiscalia was already talking to us, and we gave them my daughter’s number, my daughter’s phone, the type of phone, and they could find her through her iPhone because she has an iPhone 13. So they located her iPhone and well, according to them, they went there, but by the time they could go, they could reach there, Mr. Rosales had already deposited the two hundred thousand pesos.”
Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.
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