As kidnapping rates rise in Mexico, one firm is taking the anxiety of the upper class into a business opportunity. Security firm Xega is offering RFID implants to help locate kidnap victims, and business is apparently booming.
Xega’s system centers on an RFID implant injected into the client’s arm, which transmits a signal to an external GPS device the client must carry. If the client is kidnapped, there is a panic button on the device that alerts Xega. A satellite can then locate the victim.
Critics dismiss the system as having relatively little security value as the implant only helps identify its bearer, and the actual locating system requires a larger device which could easily be found and destroyed by a theoretical kidnapper.
The system costs $4,000, plus an annual fee of $2,000. Xega claims a roster of over 2,000 customers, and a 13% jump in sales this year alone. The company plans to expand operations to Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela next year.
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