Chinese exchange students in the US were found in wood following a cyber- kidnapping scam.
In a tent in the Utah desert, a Chinese exchange student who was the victim of a “cyber kidnapping” scheme in which his parents were blackmailed into paying $80,000 was discovered alive but “cold and scared,” according to authorities.
Kai Zhuang, a seventeen-year-old student at his host high school in Riverdale, Utah, was reported missing on Thursday after his parents in China notified authorities that he looked to have been kidnapped and that a ransom had been requested.
The case followed the standard procedure for cyber-abduction, whereby the “kidnappers” instruct the victim to isolate themselves and send images of themselves as though they are in captivity. The victim’s family receives the photos in exchange for a ransom demand.
The victims cooperate because they think something bad would happen to their family otherwise. Following a multi-day search that included the analysis of bank data, purchase records, and phone ping records, authorities were certain that the man was withdrawing into a tent some 40 kilometers north of Brigham City.
“Due to the cold weather in Utah this time of year, we became additionally concerned for the victim’s safety in that he may freeze to death overnight,” the Riverdale Police Department said in a press release after he was found on Sunday.
Going up a mountainside on foot, a sergeant found Kai’s tent. According to the department, inside was “a heat blanket, a sleeping bag, limited food and water and several phones that were presumed to be used to carry out the cyber kidnapping,” but no heat source.
“The victim was alive but very cold and scared,” the detective reported after speaking with him inside the tent. After being rescued, Kai “requested a warm cheeseburger” and to speak to his family, which had paid $80,000 to bank accounts in China during the scam, according to Riverdale police.
Kai’s host family in Riverdale had initially been unaware he was missing, having heard him in the kitchen in the early morning of the day of his disappearance. A spokeswoman for the Chinese embassy in Washington advised its nationals to “increase safety awareness, take necessary precautions, and remain vigilant against ‘virtual kidnapping‘ and other forms of telecom and online fraud.
According to Riverdale police, Chinese exchange students in particular have been the target of cyber kidnappers in recent times.
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