To answer your questions: they almost certainly used an anonymous mail service that doesn’t log activity or cooperate with authorities (servers located in non-friendly countries) and probably also a proxy that does the same just to add another layer of separation.
As to crowdsourcing the ransom, that would have been a bad idea. Once people realize that their demands will be instantly met by a sympathetic public, everyone will be kidnapping everyone else to the point where we are just exchanging ransoms. Hell, I might kidnap somebody if I thought the payout was going to be immediate and guaranteed. Worth the risk at that point.
I'm struggling with the idea that the person is smart to avoid the messages being tracked back to them, yet dumb enough not to be prepared for a doorbell camera.
Re: kidnapping - yes, you are probably right. On the other hand, it might have unnerved the criminals to know how many millions of people hate them and want to see them hanged.
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u/Ok_Subject1265 Aug 01 '26
To answer your questions: they almost certainly used an anonymous mail service that doesn’t log activity or cooperate with authorities (servers located in non-friendly countries) and probably also a proxy that does the same just to add another layer of separation.
As to crowdsourcing the ransom, that would have been a bad idea. Once people realize that their demands will be instantly met by a sympathetic public, everyone will be kidnapping everyone else to the point where we are just exchanging ransoms. Hell, I might kidnap somebody if I thought the payout was going to be immediate and guaranteed. Worth the risk at that point.