Computer Extortion Attempt
The CEO of a software company received a threatening e-mail stating that a confidential program for the company's flagship product would be made public unless $400,000 was paid to the extortionist. The e-mail threats continued, with the extortion amount escalating to $1.5 million. Investigators were brought in, and they were able to track the e-mails to a man working on a computer terminal at a Florida library. The Florida man was arrested and indited on federal extortion charges.

Banker and Family Threatened
The wife and teenage son of a branch manager of a U.S. bank were taken hostage, and her husband was told to drive to the bank and empty the teller drawers and the ATM machine. The kidnappers said he must leave the money by a large tree behind the bank's parking lot, or else they would kill his family if he did not comply with their demands. After the bank manager handed over nearly $500,000 in cash, his wife and son were released, and the kidnappers escaped with the money.

Fired Employee Seeks Revenge
The executive vice president of a bulk-mailing company was kidnapped at night from the driveway of his home. The next day, the company's owner was called by a man who informed him of the kidnapping and demanded $1 million in ransom. A meeting was arranged at a fast-food restaurant, and one of the kidnappers was arrested on the scene. The executive vice president was found beaten, bound and gagged at a motel in New York, and the two other kidnappers were arrested. The lead kidnapper was a former shipping manager for the company, and he wanted revenge on his boss for his "unjust firing."

Children Kidnapped in Mexico
A vice president at a multinational company regularly took his two young children to work with him on Saturday mornings. On the way home from his office in Tijuana one Saturday afternoon, the executive was forced to stop his car by three assailants who abducted his two children. After a lengthy negotiation process and payment of $700,000 in ransom, his nine-year-old boy and six-year-old girl were eventually released unharmed. The kidnappers were later captured, and subsequent investigation revealed that the kidnappers had gotten information about the executive's routine from security personnel at the complex where he worked.