{"id":75564,"date":"2017-11-20T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-11-20T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mobserver.co.za\/75564\/family-threatened-with-kidnapping\/"},"modified":"2017-11-21T14:01:32","modified_gmt":"2017-11-21T12:01:32","slug":"family-threatened-with-kidnapping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/news-headlines\/2017\/11\/20\/family-threatened-with-kidnapping\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We know where your children are\u2018 – family threatened with kidnapping"},"content":{"rendered":"

A man had his family threatened after someone hacked his Facebook<\/a> profile and gained access to personal information like their home address and the schools his children attend.<\/p>\n

The man, who requested to stay anonymous to protect his family, says tha he first suspected something was wrong when he received notifications of Facebook friends commenting on his new profile picture.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t changed my profile picture for months,\u201d the man said.<\/p>\n

Read: Teacher kidnapped on her way to school<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Minutes thereafter he started receiving the first of what would become a string of threatening WhatsApp<\/a> messages.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

At first the messages contained photos of naked women he was accused of having sexual relationships with. His blackmailers<\/a> requested R7 000 in exchange for keeping the information secret. The money was to be paid into an e-wallet.<\/p>\n

Read: Young boy snatched at Cresta Shopping Centre<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The man showed the messages to his wife but did not think much of it until he started receiving pictures of his children and their locations.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Blackmailers knew which schools they attended and also claimed to have his wife\u2019s location.<\/p>\n

Read: Interpreter kidnapped, murdered<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

They threatened to kidnap them and ask R30 000 ransom money<\/a> for their safe return.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cGo to the police station if they can help,\u201d and \u201cI do not want your money anymore, this is personal now, you did this to yourself,\u201d are just some of the messages that prompted the man to open a criminal case.<\/p>\n

The messages were sent from three different numbers.<\/p>\n

Police are currently investigating the matter.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Other news:<\/h3>\n

Have you seen this man?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Focus on premature babies<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

VIDEO – Tosca robbed by gang of five armed men<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Pupil refused exam because of beard<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

VIDEO – Businessman robbed of R57 000 after being followed from mall<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Want breaking news on the go?<\/h3>\n

Add us on WhatsApp. Save the Middelburg Observer standby number 072 248 3855 on your phone and send a WhatsApp message with the words \u201cAdd me\u201d to receive news links.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cYour family is now at risk. If we kidnap one we want R30 000.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1848,"featured_media":75565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"hasGravity":false,"cxt_article_byline":"Jana Boshoff","cxt_disable_google_ads":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2],"tags":[9280,9278,9279,9282,6109,4837,21966,9277,9281,9283,4618],"class_list":["post-75564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news-headlines","tag-are-children-being-kidnapped","tag-blackmail","tag-children-kidnapped","tag-help-against-blackmail","tag-kidnap","tag-kidnapping","tag-middelburg","tag-ransom","tag-threatening-messages","tag-what-to-do-when-you-are-blackmailed","tag-whatsapp"],"category_labels":{"Category":"News","SubCategory":"Local news"},"tag_labels":["are children being kidnapped","blackmail","children kidnapped","help against blackmail","kidnap","kidnapping","middelburg","ransom","threatening messages","what to do when you are blackmailed","whatsapp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1848"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}