Kidnap: Inside the Ransom Business

Kidnap for ransom is a lucrative but tricky business. Millions of people live, travel, and work in areas with significant kidnap risks, yet kidnaps of foreign workers, local VIPs, and tourists are surprisingly rare and the vast majority of abductions are peacefully resolved - often for remarkably low ransoms. In fact, the market for hostages is so well ordered that the crime is insurable. This is a puzzle: ransoming a hostage is the world's most precarious trade. What would be the "right" price for your loved one - and can you avoid putting others at risk by paying it? What prevents criminals from maltreating hostages? How do you (safely) pay a ransom? And why would kidnappers release a potential future witness after receiving their money? Kidnap: Inside the Ransom Business uncovers how a group of insurers at Lloyd's of London have solved these thorny problems for their customers. Based on interviews with industry insiders (from both sides), as well as hostage stakeholders, it uncovers an intricate and powerful private governance system ordering transactions between the legal and the criminal economies.

1. Kidnap for Ransom as a Business Part I: Why People are Kidnapped for Ransom 2. Understanding Patterns of Kidnapping 3. The Protectors Choice Part II. Making Kidnapping Insurable 4. What is Kidnap for Ransom Insurance? 5. Crafting an Effective Protection Contract 6. The Price of a Life 7. The Case of the CEC Future 8. Trading with Kidnappers 9. Governing Kidnap for Ransom Part III. When Kidnaps Go Wrong 10. Why Do Hostages Die? 11. Debrief Notes Bibliography Index