What is this world coming to?

So a couple of days ago, Jared left the house to run somewhere really quick. Well, an HOUR later he walks in the door looking completely devastated. He proceeds to tell me that when he left the house he accidentally left his cell phone on the roof of his car and had spent the last hour pacing down every street trying to find it, but with no luck. This phone is his life, well not his life, but it's really really important and he has all of his "irreplacable" work info in it. He tried calling it over and over but each time it rings and rings and then goes to voice mail. Well after a while of calling it, it just started going straight to voice mail and he says "Well, that's it, someone must've just run over it and it is smashed in a million pieces on the side of the road". But he keeps calling it anyway and eventually someone picks up and then immediately hangs up on him. "Someone has it!", so then of course he keeps calling back until finally someone says something in Spanish. Yup, that's right, of all the people to find it, it was someone from south of the border! I don't mean to sound judgemental, but seriously at that point I lost all hope we would ever get it back. After continually calling, one time they picked up and didn't hang up right away so Jared pleaded with them in English to return his phone. Then they hung up on him again. He called back and spoke Spanish, this time they listened longer, then hung up. Then Jared called and offered $20. They hung up. Then he called and offered $40 and they agreed to meet him to give him his phone back for $40. Were they seriously holding his phone hostage?!! Well we loaded into the car and waited and waited and waited until finally a little car with windows tinted so black I couldn't see in pulled up and Jared walked over to it. I never saw the guy but Jared said he was scary. No shirt and tattoos everywhere (nothing against anyone who has tattoos). Jared asked if he could have his phone without paying $40 maybe just $20 and the guy said no, he already agreed with his cousin (the guy he claims found it) to split the "earnings" so he needed the full $40. EARNINGS!!?? In the end, we were happy to have the phone back, but were not happy about being $40 poorer just to get our own phone back! Can you imagine finding someone else's belonging and then saying you won't return it unless they pay up??!! Sometimes people amaze me...