US national kidnapped in Benin after Internet scam freed by police
A number of foreigners have been kidnapped and held for ransom after falling prey to cyber scams, which often involve offers of not-to-be-missed business opportunities.
A US national who was kidnapped in Benin last week after being duped into travelling to the West African nation by an Internet scam has been freed by security forces.
Two of his kidnappers – both of whom hail from neighboring Nigeria – are also “in the hands of the police,” interior ministry spokesman Frank Kinninvo told Reuters, adding that the hostage had been found in Benin’s southwestern region of Mono.
A security source told the news agency that the man had been abducted after journeying to Benin to meet a group of people from both Benin and Nigeria whom he had encountered online. The kidnappers then contacted his family and demanded they pay a ransom for his release.
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According to the Associated Press, the man reportedly came from Togo, and vanished soon after crossing through an immigration checkpoint. Kinninvo dismissed speculation that the radical Nigerian Islamist terror group Boko Haram may have been involved in his abduction.
According to the BBC, a number of foreigners have been kidnapped and held for ransom after falling prey to cyber scams, which often involve offers of not-to-be-missed business opportunities.
While such abductions are rare in Benin, Pierre Dovonou, an expert on cybercrime, told the BBC that due to a police crackdown on fraudsters in Nigeria many criminals have travelled across the border and are now basing themselves in the former French colony.
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