History Main / RansomDrop

[[quoteright:350:[[Series/{{Ransom}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ransom_global_e01.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Making the drop.]]

* TVMovie ''Film/{{Velvet}}''. The villains demand a ransom be taken in a bag to a marine park. A guy grabs the bag and throws it into the nearby ocean, where it's picked up by a woman on a jet ski. When questioned, the guy says he was paid to do what he did - he had no idea what the bag contained.

* TVMovie ''Velvet''. The villains demand a ransom be taken in a bag to a marine park. A guy grabs the bag and throws it into the nearby ocean, where it's picked up by a woman on a jet ski. When questioned, the guy says he was paid to do what he did - he had no idea what the bag contained.

* ''Series/TheDickVanDykeShow had an episode where the script was stolen and a ransom demanded. Dick is asked by a tramp for some money and asks if he should first put it in the trash can (as earlier agreed); the tramp is disgusted, thinking Dick van Dyke just wants to humiliate him.

Picking up your ransom can be tricky because it's the obvious way to physically track the money to the kidnapper. To avoid this fate, a convoluted sequence of events is engineered to avoid detection. Switching trains, phone directions, identical bags and so on may be required. Most of the times, ransom exchanges will be done at either secluded/abandoned or public places to avoid drawing the attention of law enforcement and intelligence agencies alike.

* In ''Film/HighAndLow '', the ransom for Aoki's son is being dropped off from a fast moving train as per the kidnapper's meticulous instructions.

* ''Film/DirtyHarry''. Inspector Callahan is run from one phone booth to another by the Scorpio killer to reveal a tail. Problems he encounters include an attempted mugging and the wrong person picking up the public phone before he reaches it. Callahan wears a HiddenWire and sends instructions to his partner Gonzales, which is just as well as Scorpio has no intention of letting Callahan or his kidnap victim live.

* In ''Film/{{Juggernaut}}'', the ransom demanded by the bomber is to be left in a certain locker at a bus station. The police stake out the locker, but the man who comes to pick up the money turns out to have been hired to collect it and drop it somewhere else, with no knowledge that can lead back to the bomber.

* ''Film/{{Ransom}}'', unsurprisingly, has a pivotal scene around this, where the protagonist is made to go from phone to phone to get subsequent directions, instructed to jump into a pool to destroy any electronics he might have on him, etc. When he finally gets to the drop [[spoiler: it turns out the police have been following him the whole time, and the hand-off goes bad very quickly.]]

* The kidnappers in ''Film/{{Unknown|2006}}'' order the ransom to be stashed in a public locker. Though Police are surveilling the area with cameras, they fail to realize that the locker has no bottom and the ransom fell through into the station's basement where it was picked up.

* The book ''Ransom Drop'' by Mike Sullivan is, not suprisingly, about this.

* One episode of ''Series/BarneyMiller'' has the kidnappers demanding that a police officer drop off the ransom while running in the park, which the victim's family decides to pay. Wojo ends up running for a good few miles before the kidnapers actually show up to claim the ransom and release the victim.

* Done in ''VisualNovel/FourTwoEightFuusasaretaShibuyaDe'' when Hitomi Osawa is told by the kidnappers of her twin sister, Maria, to the statue of Hachiko in Shibuya. It gets botched when the kidnappers attempt to get her killed, leading to an escalation in the city when the [=UA=] virus is released. This forces the Japanese government to quarantine the city.

!!Examples

[[AC: {{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

* The kidnappers in ''Film/{{Unknown 2006}}'' order the ransom to be stashed in a public locker. Though Police are surveilling the area with cameras, they fail to realize that the locker has no bottom and the ransom fell through into the station's basement where it was picked up.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* In ''{{Series/Soap}}'' Burt & Danny have to exchange a paper bag filled with ransom money to get Danny's wife back. While waiting for the kidnappers to show up they "practice" but they both switch the bags, so Burt-as-the-kidnapper ends up with the empty paper bag he originally had.

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
* The book ''Ransom Drop'' by Mike Sullivan is, not suprisingly, about this.

[[AC:TabletopGames]]

[[AC:VideoGames]]

* Early in the original ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'', the boss's daughter is kidnapped. Claude is sent to drop off the ransom, which is picked up by the kidnappers via boat. Unusually for a GTA game, everything goes exactly as planned - the kidnappers take the money and point Claude towards the garage where the girl is being held (in the trunk of a car).

* Film/{{Ransom}}, unsurprisingly, has a pivotal scene around this, where the protagonist is made to go from phone to phone to get subsequent directions, instructed to jump into a pool to destroy any electronics he might have on him, etc. When he finally gets to the drop [[spoiler: it turns out the police have been following him the whole time, and the hand-off goes bad very quickly.]]

Picking up your ransom can be tricky because it's the obvious way to physically track the money to the kidnapper. To avoid this fate, a convoluted sequence of events is engineered to avoid detection. Switching trains, phone directions, identical bags and so on may be required.

* Done in ''VisualNovel/FourTwoEightFuusasaretaShibuyaDe'' when Hitomi Osawa is told by the kidnappers of her twin sister, Maria, to the statue of Hachiko in Shibuya. It gets botched when the kidnappers attempt to get her killed, leading to an escalation in the city when the [=UA=] virus is released. This forces the Japanese government to quarantine the city.

* In ''AlongCameASpider'', the police officer in charge of the case has to make the hand-off. After being forced to follow the requisite convoluted path, he's made to jump on a train just before the doors close, and then, while it's moving, break the windows and throw the ransom out.

* In ''Anime/BigO'' Roger Smith delivers ransoms on several occasions. He presents a BriefcaseFullOfMoney, which is armed and also rigged to fly away with the money if he subsequently finds that the ransomed person is a fake. And if attacked by the kidnappers, he's backed up by a HumongousMecha.

* Done in ''VisualNovel/FourTwoEightFuusasaretaShibuyaDe'' when Hitomi Osawa is told by the kidnappers of her twin sister, Maria, to the statue of Hachiko in Shibuya. It gets botched when the kidnappers attempt to get her killed, leading to an escalation in the city when the [=UA=] virus is released. This forces the Japanese government to quarantine the city.

* The kidnappers in ''Film/{{Unknown 2006}}'' order the ransom to be stashed in a public locker. Though Police is surveilling the area with cameras, they fail to realize that the locker has no bottom and the ransom fell through into the station's basement where it was picked up.

* The kidnappers in ''Film/{{Unknown 2006}} order the ransom to be stashed in a public locker. Though Police is surveilling the area with cameras, they fail to realize that the locker has no bottom and the ransom fell through into the station's basement where it was picked up.

ransom for Aoki's son. It reaches its climax with an exciting sequence on one of Japan's famous bullet trains, where he makes the ransom drop per the kidnapper's meticulous instructions.

* ''Ransom'', unsurprisingly, has a pivotal scene around this, where the protagonist is made to go from phone to phone to get subsequent directions, instructed to jump into a pool to destroy any electronics he might have on him, etc. When he finally gets to the drop [[spoiler: it turns out the police have been following him the whole time, and the hand-off goes bad very quickly.]]

!Examples

* ''Film/DumbAndDumber'''s plot is kicked off by one of the main characters being a SpannerInTheWorks. Then the woman he loves drops off the briefcase with the money, Lloyd sprints through the airport to grab it to give it to her.