With the approaching summer trips, officials emit a security alert for North -Americans who use dating applications in certain areas of Mexico, warning travelers who are careful due to an increase in the abductions linked to applications.
On Monday, the United States Embassy and the consulated ones in Mexico shared a security alert after confirming “several reports of North citizens -Americans abducted by the victims gathered in the appointments applications in recent months.”
“You have to be careful, the buyer be careful. You must assume that something could happen to you in this process,” Bobby McDonald, a retired supervision service agent and Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of New Haven, shared with Fox News Digital on the dangers of Dating Application.
“If you decide to use it, be very high alert. Take a lot of care where you find this person or people. Make sure it is in a public area. Make sure it is a field where you will have the mobile phones service. Make sure you only look for yourself, situational awareness. Take care and make people know,” McDonald urged.
McDonald added that these dating applications are the last criminals they use.
“Applications are the next level of places where criminals will be able to act on their nefarious activities. And you just have to consider,” said McDonald.
“Once again, there are not many things that we can do with respect to these applications or to undo them from the phones of the children or the phones of the people. People only have to understand where they are, what they are doing and being willing to react to a bad situation and find out how to go out -in front,” he continued.
The alert was published for the areas of Puerto Vallarta and Nuevo Nayarit.
The embassy said that “the victims and their relatives in the United States have sometimes been fired by large sums of money to achieve their release.”
“Please note that this type of violence is not limited to a geographical area,” said the embassy.
The embassy added that travelers should use precaution when they are strangers, encouraging meetings in public places and avoiding isolated places, “such as residences or hotel rooms, where crimes are produced.”
McDonald said nothing about this alert surprised him.
“This is just a kind of the next iteration of what we have to worry about when we travel, whether with our families, with our students at the spring break, all these types of things. It only seems to be a next level of something that we must consider,” said McDonald.
Embassy officials did not specifically call which appointment applications were involved in alert.
McDonald recommended that anyone traveling outside the country or even a new place in the United States “do some research before traveling” and know what is “where you are staying.”
“You need to ensure -you are careful about your environment. You must have the U.S. Embassy or Consulate Number on your person. You must ensure -you have made additional copies of the passport,” said McDonald. “Not only leaving a copy at home, but having an additional copy with you.”
McDonald added that travelers also need to say that they communicate with the people back home and let them know where they are going and what they do while on vacation on these trips.
“Simply give information to the people because, if, God does not prohibit it, something happens to you or you are in a bad situation, there is someone outside or back home that can provide you with help,” said McDonald.
What makes these situations even more problematic that McDonald said that there can be any access to Wi-Fi where travelers are on vacation, especially after being abducted.
“According to your telephone plan, there may be no Wi-Fi in the area that has taken you to one of these areas or in the stations. So again, you want to try to minimize your ability to happen to you,” McDonald reiterated.
Although McDonald does not recommend traveling to areas outside the country, he said he only had an account of your environment and communicates with his loved ones.
“Again, enjoy the area. Enjoy what is there.
McDonald said that what he has seen in his experience is that abductions evolve into extortion.
“Many of the problems are also heading towards extortion, taking photos or you have taken on the phone, calling your parents or grandparents, asking them to shut up money. There are many different scams that you can easily find if you are not aware of the situation where it is and what is around,” he said.
The North -American Consulate -American reminded the citizens of the United States that, in travel advice from the State Department for Mexico, Jalisco is classified as “Level 3”, which means “reconsidering the journey” due to crime and abduction. The agency added that while Jalisco is classified as a higher threat, Nayarit is classified as “Level 2”, which means “increased exercise in precaution” due to crime.
Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom are other countries that also have level 2 advice from the State Department.
The State Department said that Review the travel advisers regularly and update alerts “time conditions change substantially.”
“The State Department does not have a higher priority than the security and security of North citizens -American abroad,” said a spokesman for the State Department in Fox News Digital.
“We seriously take our commitment to provide North and Reliable Information on each destination in the world so that they can make informed travel decisions. We make this information available to the citizens of the United States so that they can be aware of their environment and take the necessary precautions.”
Level 1 and 2 advisers are reviewed every 12 months, while levels 3 and 4 are reviewed every six months, the department added.
The Department also said that the security alert issued by the embassy is a reminder for “North -Americans to use caution when using dating applications”.
McDonald said that although travelers do not need to emphasize warning and semantics, researching before traveling and reading what the State Department says about the area is crucial in decision -making.
“If you are a little concerned and you have done your research on the area and you are checking what the State Department says, and say that” exercise increased the precaution, “this would say,” Hey, you may want to postpone your trip to this area, “McDonald said.” This means that this area is on the radar, there are things there or the potential that there are more things that are there. “
McDonald added that there are many safe places to escape the travelers, and it is only a matter of preparing.
“We need to be able to choose cautiously when we choose our holiday time and when there are advisers like this, we must be aware of the fact that you do not want to enter an area that can have more important problems at the moment,” said McDonald.
“It is a situational awareness, a knowledge of your area, a little homework on the front, and we hope you have a very safe and pleasant holiday.”
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