Fictional TV crime dramas directly triggered real copycat 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 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Broadcast crime modeling triggered an eightfold surge in copycat extortions.; Highly publicized novel crimes trigger a wave of copycat events before fading; Broadcast fictional crime scenarios directly inspired real extortion attempts — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 739 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Broadcast fictional crime scenarios directly inspired real extortion attempts #corroborates (0.93) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 739