"They feel that by doing that to another human being, it removes the personal touch. It feels like a business transaction," he says.
But it's essential, he says.
"It's either that or they wind up settling out of court with some dirtbag who meant them no good. And all of that could have been avoided if they were properly screened," Stivi says.
And that may be the best-case scenario. Kidnapping is actually one of the greatest risks the wealthy face, and it's often perpetrated by someone they know-someone who has intimate knowledge of their comings and goings. Abductions often occur in locations where the victims feel most secure. About 90% of kidnappings occur within view of the victim's home or office.
"The people who are closest to them and get to know their routines present their greatest vulnerability, says William Besse, an executive director at Andrews International, a security firm based in Valencia, Calif. "If it's a high-profile criminal act, a burglary or robbery or kidnapping, the people involved are going to place that target under surveillance, and they're going to try to learn as much as they can about this person."
Exxon executive Sidney Reso was abducted from his own driveway in wealthy Morris Township, N.J., in 1992. Tuxedo manufacturer Harvey J. Weinstein was kidnapped in 1993 by a man who worked for Weinstein as a collar maker. Weinstein had just finished his customary breakfast at his favorite diner when he was forced into a car and whisked away. In 2003, billionaire hedge fund manager Eddie Lampert was kidnapped at gunpoint while leaving work. They nabbed Lampert, who at the time owned the $9 billion private investment fund ESL Investments Inc., at his office after seeing that he went in every Saturday and parked in the same spot-the one with his name on it.
"A bunch of guys went onto the Internet to find out who the wealthy people in the area were. Lampert wasn't at the top of the list, but whoever was had security measures in place, and they felt Lampert was an easier target," says Frank Rodman, president and COO of Truefort, a New York-based security advisory firm that exclusively services the wealthy.
David Letterman's painter hatched a plan to kidnap Letterman's son, a plan that might have come to fruition had the painter's accomplice not told police about it.
"He had the access and the opportunity. He also happened to have a criminal record that a basic due diligence at the front end might have found," Rodman says.
Security experts say sophisticated criminals, from kidnappers to ex-KGB agents who are now unemployed and freelancing, use people like domestic help to infiltrate the lives and businesses of wealthy people. Kidnapping isn't the only crime in which they've been involved. Some steal credit card numbers and bank account information, as well as other personal information that allows them to commit identity theft or fraud.
While kidnappings in the U.S. are rare, they are not beyond the realm of possibility, so wealthy individuals should prepare for those as well, security firms say.