Nobody remembers this: http://www.conceptlab.com/roachbot ?

He he he, I can imagine: --"Hey! Listen to me, we got your brother!" --"What? what was that?" --"I'm not joking @ssh*le, Do as I say or..." --"Hey, I can't hear you. Are you on the Skype again?" --"Shit... yes, hold a sec. I'm moving closer to the router... this... amm... Stupid stolen signal!" "How about now?" --"Still can't" --"SHIT! Listen to me..." --"Sorry, I'm losing you... Hey gotta go. Call me later k? Bye." Well, to call to a real phone you still have to pay, I guess you could still track the Credit card or something. Which of course could also be stolen. But heck, I see stupidity in this, but would like to think that there's a solution. I would like to see it working. Maybe I'm just daydreaming.

Yes, but the point is to identify the criminals BEFORE they kiddnap their victims. Or in the cases when they don't plan on an actual kiddnaping, but an Express-virtual one.