Business Travelers:
Professional Victims

There is a booming industry selling safety to business travelers. Companies like Pinkerton's, Jane's and Kroll will give you a blow by blow (every day if you like) of every maiming, kidnapping, bombing and attack. Almost all security services are targeted at businesses and businessmen (we're not being chauvinistic here, most victims are men). Yet when I give my talks on travel in dangerous places, I never meet any businessmen. Instead, I run into mostly gung-ho college students and graying, careful spinsters. I figure selling safety to business travelers is like offering sex education classes for monks. They don't see the need. After all, they are not really traveling. They get on a plane, have a couple of drinks, review the file and then meet the driver at the airport. They stay in a swank hotel, have dinner with the customer and then the driver takes them to the meeting the next day. Maybe they'll take in the risque show or just cruise the bars until closing time. Shower, buy a souvenir for the kid, a trinket for the wife and then back home in 10 hours. Hey no big deal, just another business trip.

The reality of business travel from the other side is a little different. By flashing that suit, Rolex President and Megaoil business card, you have become the enemy and the victim. You won't even have to pay the ransom out of your own pocket because they know you have a cash insurance policy for kidnapping.

Business travel is perhaps the most dangerous form of travel. The fact that you represent an American company can make you a target. You also lose the ability to discern about when and where to travel. Most tourists wouldn't consider flying into a Colombian war zone for a week. Yet folks from oil, computer, agricultural and food companies do it regularly. Most victims of terrorism tend to be working on a daily basis in a foreign country in areas where no sane traveler would go.

Finally, by doing business, you tend to frequent establishments and locations where thieves, terrorists and opportunists seek affluent victims-luxury hotels, expensive restaurants, expat compounds, airports, embassies, etc. As a businessperson, you cannot adopt the cloak of anonymity, since you will more than likely be wearing an expensive suit, staying in expensive hotels and have scads of luggage, cash and gifts. If you do business in places like Africa you may be surprised when you call the police for help and discover some don't have gas for their vehicles or bullets for their guns. In some countries like Sierra Leone, a diamond mining center, the police may even show up only to rob you (once they find gas and bullets).

Business travel exposes you to frequent car and air travel and other means of transportation. Many trips are also undertaken in bad weather conditions and at congested travel periods (i.e., Monday out, Friday back). You are fed very carefully through a chain of businesses that cater to businesspeople and become a high profile target for criminals who prey on business travelers. You make appointments well in advance with complete strangers and you have no idea of where you are going or where you are and you even tell strangers you are lost. I often shudder when I see oil field technicians, complete with cowboy hats, pointed boots and silver Halliburton briefcases, tossing beer-soaked profanities and Ben Franklins around the world's transit lounges. Can you think of a more inviting target?

Business travelers are by far the juiciest targets for terrorists and thugs alike. They make great kidnap victims as well as willing dispensers of cash for bribes. Any Third World country with oil should be considered dangerous.

Angola

Oil and diamonds shore up this shattered country. The country is looking for investors to help dig them out. However, impotent cease-fires are signed as frequently as bad checks and although the heavy fighting has wound down, the countryside is lawless.

Algeria

Algeria is dependent on foreign expertise and the most dangerous place in the world. Foreign companies are paying top dollar for oil workers.

Cambodia

Cheap labor and an eager government attract plenty of Chinese garment manufacturers to Cambodia. The land of the Khmers is essentially lawless except for a narrow strip around the temples of Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, thanks to the Khmer Rouge and banditry in rural areas. There is little business left to conduct in this post-election, war-torn country. Rising crime and armed carjackings in Phnom Penh are turning the capital into an anarchist's heaven.

Colombia

Colombia gets five stars for brutality, pervasiveness and ingenuity. The government wants businesses to absorb the cost of doing business in a war zone.

Nigeria

Nigeria is floating on oil but its people are dirt poor. I wonder where all that Shell money goes? For now, Nigerians could never be called lazy. They provide some of the best drug mules, scam artists, con men and extortion-based crime. If you get a fax from Nigeria asking for a meeting, run, do not walk to the nearest bunco squad.

Pakistan

Cheap, cheap, cheap is what draws Samsonite packing dealmakers to this promised land of profits. The government is considered corrupt. Political stability is tenuous and there is constant warfare and insurgencies.

The Philippines

The southern Philippines is where a host of motley terrorists-turned-brigands compete for hostages. They prefer to kidnap the children of rich Chinese but dabble with Westerners when they can.

Russia

Russia, specifically Moscow and St. Petersburg, is a quagmire for American businesspeople. It is faced with extortion, lawlessness and politically instability. There is growing disenchantment with the new Russian revolution. Many had a much better go at it with the communists. It's estimated that there will be more than 120 foreigners killed in Russia this year.

Business travelers in all Third World countries can expect to be hit up for tips, bribes, gifts and dinner checks.

Wherever there is money, there are gangsters. They have an amazing ability to ignore governments and streamline collection procedures. Do not be surprised if your business partner in Eastern Europe or Russia turns out to be a person of ill repute. Italian and Russian gangs are busy establishing links and are now working together in Germany to control a number of businesses: 17 percent of the 776 investigations into organized crime in Germany last year involved attempts to influence politics, big business or government administration. The main activities of organized crime were drug trafficking, weapons smuggling, money laundering and gambling. A while back, police uncovered profits from organized crime in those areas alone totalling US$438 million or 700 million Deutschemarks.

Business travel is not more or less dangerous, but people who travel on business tend to be preoccupied with appointments, directions and preparing for meetings. It also exposes travelers to areas where crimes are committed more often such as nightclubs, downtown areas, banks, ex pat restaurants and other high profile spots.

But cheer up, the chances of being kidnapped and returned home safe are the least of your worries. You could end up dead without even being kidnapped, extorted or waylaid. According to International SOS Assistance in Geneva, Switzerland-a company that specializes in health, security and insurance for travelers-a deadly traffic accident is the most likely reason you'll be flown home dead. Cardiac arrest is the second most likely reason. Tropical diseases are the third. Have fun.

Security is big business these days. Americans spend about $90 billion on security every year. We only spend $40 billion on police. In California there are four times as many private police as there are government police. In countries like Russia and South Africa people don't even bother calling for the police. Also see the "Save Yourself" chapter for more listings.

Control Risks Group Ltd.

One Penn Plaza, Suite 1710
New York, New York 10019
(212) 967-3955, FAX: (212) 967-3956
http://www.crg.com

In the U.K.:
83 Victoria Street
London SW1H 0HW
[44] (171) 222-1552/388-1187, FAX: [44] (171) 222-2296/388-1189

The Ackerman Group

1666 Kennedy Causeway
Miami Beach, Florida 33141
(305) 865-0072

Ex-CIA agent turned security consultant, Mike Ackerman specializes in crisis resolution or hostage return through providing the financial and security resources required to resolve hostage situations safely. He speaks fluent Russian so it should be easy to figure out where he used to work for Uncle Sam.

Kroll Associates

900 Third Avenue
(800) 824-7502 (212) 833-3206,
FAX (212) 750-8112
www.krollassociates.com

A security/investigative firm founded in 1972 by Jules Kroll and owned by Equifax (the credit info folks). In addition to gumshoeing on an international and corporate level, Kroll also offers a very useful service for business travelers. You can use your credit card to order a Travel Watch report for $9.95 each. They also provide customer security services for business. Kroll has information on more than 300 cities worldwide that covers transportation to and from the city, emergency telephone numbers as well as health and safety concerns. They also have special reports on countries and regions. There are also new security tips on the Internet and computers, the airlines and in-depth country reports available.

Pinkerton Risk Assessment Services

200 North Glebe Road, Suite 1011
Arlington, Virginia 22203
(703) 525-6111, FAX (703) 525-2454
fjohns@pinkertons.com

Pinkerton provides a wide variety of information and services for companies doing business in bad places. They also cover the USA and provide custom security services as well.

Seitlin & Company

2001 N.W. 107 Avenue Suite 200
Miami, Florida 33172
(305) 591-0090, FAX: (305) 593-6993
e-mail: kandrguy@aol.com
http://www.icanect.net/seitlin/page2.htm

Seitlin is the largest insurance broker in Florida and is also known for the number of kidnap/ransom insurance policies it writes in Latin America. It can also cover you worldwide; it just costs a little more and might take a little more time to get you out. Seitlin can pick from all the top providers of KRE and is a good source of advice if you need to understand just what you could be getting into. Luckily it only has to pay out about once or twice a year. Its clients include mostly wealthy Latin American families, corporations that do business south of the border and employees of multinational corporations. Other vendors of KRE are:

Chubb Insurance of Canada

http://masc-web.com/chubb/english/epd/kidnap.htm

Lloyd's of London:

http://www.cyberapp.com/kidnap.html

Black Fox International, Inc.

http://black-fox.com/kidnap.htm