If you have a net worth of over $1,000,000 it's not worth saving $2,000 to get this type of call from your daughter

Rightly so, there is more and more interest from high net worth individuals looking to use an international kidnap and ransom insurance policy, and security program to protect themselves and their families.  These global kidnap and ransom insurance policies are no longer just for the Exxon-Mobiles of the world, but are being purchased by individuals.  These are the most common reasons individuals purchase international personal security plans for themselves and their families no matter what their employer is doing for them:

1. High net worth individual looking for an international security program because they travel extensively around the world.
2. Expatriates looking to protect themselves and their families on an expat assignment in South America, Middle East, or the old Eastern Europe.
3. A high net worth individual in the EU or U.S. has a son or daughter doing a semester abroad, semester at sea, or just backpacking after college. 

The cost for most high net worth expatriates to protect their family globally, about $1,600 to $2,500 per year!  Season tickets at the Raiders are thousands more as are 15 things hanging on the wall at home.  What’s more important?

Do most high net worth individuals think of these types of international personal security programs before their daughter leaves to see the ruins of Machu Picchu and then backpack Argentina and Chile… unfortunately, not many do.  Thinking you have the money to meet any ransom demand is naive.  It’s the expertise and international consulting that is more important in bringing these people back alive, not how much money is in the bank account.

Once a family member is taken, it’s too late to make plans.  If you call an international security expert they may or may not have time to take your case because they have an obligation to serve their existing clients first, and not clients that call only after something has happened.  In addition to being placed at the end of the line, the cost per day could be $2,000 and the total bill $250,000 or more.

Extortion is far more common than "kidnap"

When people talk about Kidnap and Ransom Insurance and international security, most of the attention is on the actual abduction of the individual and the ransom lump sum benefit, but extortion is actually far more common, and a good kidnap and ransom insurance policy will need to address extortion.

Extortion: The use, or the express or implicit threat of the use of violence or other means to cause harm to person or property as a means to obtain something from someone else.

A note slipped under the door of an employee on an expatriate assignment saying “do this or else”is far more common than the actual abduction of the expatriate.  A good K&R insurance policy offers consulting services that will investigate an extortion threat.

Some K&R policies also cover what is called products extortion, which is a threat to harm or contaminate the products of an organization.  “Pay us $1,000,000 USD or your cola will contain arsenic” would be a classic example.  Having products extortion attached would be useful for any company that sold a product in a certain country that was easily tampered with.