Spanish indie rock band Delorean are returning to their scheduled tour today following a 48 hour ordeal in which the Basque four-piece were made victims of a “virtual kidnapping” in Mexico City.
The band were in Mexico to perform at the local edition of Montreal’s Mutek festival, off the back of their latest album Apar, when they reportedly disappeared before friends and family of Delorean living in Guipuzkoa, Spain were contacted by anonymous callers demanding a ransom for the safety of the band, as SPIN reports.
The quartet were last seen on Sunday at the Four Points hotel in Mexico City, but their whereabouts became a mystery for the next two days until an unidentified caller claimed the band had been abducted and demanded a 5 million peso (approximately AU $402,239) ransom for their safe return, setting off an international rescue effort to find the musicians, co-ordinated by Basque and Mexico City police.
Authorities suspected Delorean had been the target of a “virtual kidnapping,” which a 2008 New York Times article describes as “Mexico’s latest crime craze, one that has capitalized on the raw nerves of a country that has been terrorized by the real thing for years.”
The phenomenon sees an extortionist contact a relative or friend of the ‘victim’, demanding a ransom and threatening their safety if police are involved – just like a ‘regular’ kidnapper – but unknown to the distressed family member or mate, the ‘victim’ is in fact safe and sound, but cut-off from contact through a dupe distraction – in Delorean’s case, as Mexican paper Cambio reports, by con artists claiming to be Mexican Police. Authorities suspected Delorean had been the target of a “virtual kidnapping” …by con artists claiming to be Mexican Police.
The virtual kidnappers phoned up Delorean at the hotel, posing as Mexican police, indicating they were at risk at the Four Points hotel and that they should relocate to another venue. Once the band complied to the fake extortionist’s requests they then had their mobile phones confiscated – again on the basis that it posed a security risk to the four musicians. One of the fake policemen then made the call to the family members for the ransom of 5 million pesos cash to be dropped off at an undisclosed location.
According to an additional report from local publication El País, the Spanish band were also ordered to withdraw money from an ATM to purchase new cell phones to stay in communication with the fake Mexican ‘police’, and barring them from contact with friends, family, and staff from the Mutek festival.
The next part doesn’t sound so virtual, as the quartet were split into separate rooms and put onto three-way calls with their distressed family members, who believed – just like the band – that their lives were in danger as part of the blackmail bluff.
An updated police report notes that the band have since been freed, thanks to the actions of the actual Mexican police acting alongside the Basque band’s own Ertzaintza police force, though the details of them being set free are unclear (potentially igniting conspiracies that the real and fake Mexican police officers could have been linked).
The Spanish National Police announced the liberation of the group on Twitter (hashtags and all) writing: “The Spanish and Mexican police and the Ertzaintza [Basque police] free the 4 members of the #indie group Delorean, victims of kidnapping in Mexico City,” as SPIN points out.
Meanwhile, Consequence Of Sound reports that Delorean cancelled a show in San Francisco to recover from the ordeal, but return to the road today for their scheduled show in Seattle, Washington to continue their American tour through October and November.
The “virtual kidnapping” incident seems to be enough to have spooked fellow Spanish artists Pional and recent Listen Out act John Talabot have pulled out of their respective appearances at this weekend’s Corona Capital music festival in Mexico City. “We are cancelling our tour in Mexico for security reasons,” wrote Talabot “We are happy that our friends Delorean are OK.”
