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With instances of kidnappings rising 317 percent in five years, more and more Mexicans are turning to implanted GPS tracking chips.  Xega, just one of the companies that sells and implants the devices, has seen their sales jump 40 percent in only two years’ time.

The device costs $2,000 to implant in the upper arm and an additional $2,000 annually as a sort of service fee. The implanted chip must be accompanied by a GPS tracking transmitter that must be carried at all times – this part of the equation makes sense.

What doesn’t make sense is Xega’s next claim. The company has told clients that if kidnappers snatch the GPS transmitter, missing persons can still be found. Xega claims that the company can send radio signals to the chip.

GPS tracking experts in the United States say that this claim is false. One GPS expert told press that “…there’s no way in the world something that size can communicate with a satellite.”

The University of Arkansas RFID Research Center also points out that water and radio frequency do not get along very well, which would pose a big problem as the human body is mostly water.

The signal would dull sufficiently, making it pretty hard…well impossible… for Xega to find a person if the GPS transmitter has been lost (a fact that even Xega has admitted is true.)

Let’s hope those Mexicans who are considering the Xega chip do their homework before spending more than $2000 on a chip that doesn’t work as advertised. Unfortunately, wherever there is a problem, someone always tries to take advantage of those who are impacted.

Article Written by Khristen Foss