Picture this: You're on a business trip and just finisheda long day of work. It's late evening, and you're walking to arestaurant near your hotel, when two men approach you asking fordirections. As you begin to answer, they flash a gun and push youinto a car that has just pulled up to the curb. They drive you toan ATM, where they force you to empty your account and call yourfamily to deposit more money in the account. You're held for a day,and the kidnappers receive $8,000.

This increasingly common scenario is a portrait of an “expresskidnapping.”

What is kidnapping? Essentially, the term refers to theabduction of a person who is held against his or her will. Eachyear, at least 15,000 to 20,000 kidnappings occur across the globe.That's the number of reported cases, but the real figure is likelyhigher. Because only 10 percent to 30 percent of all kidnappingsare reported to the media or authorities, it is difficult topinpoint an exact number.