Broadcast fictional crime scenarios directly inspired real extortion attempts

Evidence

Following a showing of The Doomsday Flight on Montréal television, an extortionist attempted to force British Overseas Airways to give him a quarter of a million dollars by warning that a barometric bomb was set to explode on a jet bound for London when it descended below 5,000 feet. The hoax was unsuccessful because the airline officials, familiar with the oft-repeated scenario, diverted the plane to Denver, whose airport is at 5,339 feet. A TWA flight bound for New York from Madrid was rerouted to an air force base in South Dakota when a Madrid viewer phoned in a threat that turned out to be a hoax. A rerun in Paris resulted in the same extortion scenario, but the extortionist was apprehended. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 739

Categorization

• SEED: Real-world copycat crime inspired by a single TV script — an essay on how fiction scripts criminal behavior before anyone can stop it.