Why Call the Police When Kidnapped When You Can Tweet Your Situation Instead?

Sometimes people forget that a smartphone isn’t just about streaming videos, playing Draw Something or Angry Birds, and checking Facebook – it is actually a damn phone! In the dangerous city of Johannesburg, South Africa, a man was kidnapped and thrown in the trunk of his car. The 2 robbers, obviously rookies to this whole thing, left the victim with his phone in the trunk of the car. The man then texted his girlfriend, Lynn Peters, who also decided not to use the opportunity to call the police or anyone of influence, and decided to tweet her boyfriend’s car model and license plate info (via Digital Trends). Now, I’ve only been kidnapped once, and was traded in exchange for James Bond (yup, that was me), so I perhaps cannot fully relate to the stress of being kidnapped. But did it not cross the victim’s mind to at least TRY the police, or some useful agency? I don’t think everyone is that corrupt in South Africa (I was there for a month, and am therefore an expert on the situation).

Anyway, after the girlfriend tweeted the details, she then got retweeted, as good friends do. Soon, thousands of people were retweeting the stolen car and boyfriend details. Sidenote: this would be a good prank to get back at an ex-girlfriend – tweet the details of her own car, and get her arrested. Put that in the back pocket, boys. Eventually, the tweet was seen by BATMAN! a security agency, who determined the location of his phone (using “magic”), tracked the vehicle, and saved the day. Moral of the story: only date people who have Twitter accounts who can tweet to save you when kidnapped.