“Since the onset of COVID-19 pandemic, law enforcement received several reports of rideshare services being used to facilitate child abduction,” the agency said.
According to the warning, “criminal actors” are using rideshare services because there is a “lower likelihood of detection and ease of facilitation.”
The law enforcement agency added that criminals believe ridesharing vehicles allow them more privacy than public transportation. Additionally, the services are easy to book and more direct than public transportation.
“While other modes of transportation were used during the pandemic, the privacy of rideshare services allowed criminal actors to obfuscate potential witness identification and afforded them direct transportation,” the FBI stated. “Further, criminal actors benefit from past and current pandemic guidance, such as mask wearing and social distancing in rideshare vehicles, as it provides additional security.”
[Who’da thunk that widespread mask wearing would facilitate crime and eliminate witness identification? — Ed]
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