Scare Mongering?

This item comes in from Farid. Is he scare mongering?

Washington DC, June 24, 2007/RPS News/ -- RPS is issuing a travel alert to anyone contemplating a trip to Syria in the near future due to the sudden disappearance of Arabs and foreigners alike.
On March 31st of this year, Canadian tourist Nicole Vienneau disappeared while in Syria. She was last seen leaving the Cairo Hotel in Hama to visit the Qasr Ibn Wardan (a nearby castle). A 1 million Syrian pound (over $20,000) has been earmarked as reward money for anyone who can point to her whereabouts. As of this writing, there is no trace of Nicole.
An Egyptian medical doctor named Amro Ahmad Youssef has also disappeared about a month ago when he traveled to Syria to visit with Syrian friends he attended medical school with in Moscow. Dr. Youssef whereabouts are still unknown and it is believed he may have come face-to-face with a new phenomenon in Syria: Economically deprived killers looking for easy prey and quick cash.