Late last month, 17-year-old Chinese student Kai Zhuang was reported missing near Salt Lake City in the American state of Utah. He was found days later, alone and cold in a tent in the mountains north of the city.
Officials say the case was part of a cyber, or online, plan by criminals. The criminals tried to get $80,000 in ransom money by making Zhuang’s family believe he had been kidnapped. Ransom is money that is paid to release a kidnapped person.
Zhuang’s case is one of many in which unknown criminals target Chinese students around the world and pretend to kidnap them. The criminals often pretend to be Chinese police or government officials. They convince the students to leave the places where they live and go stay at a hotel. Then they threaten the students’ families and ask for tens of thousands of dollars for the release of their children.
On January 3, just days after Kai Zhuang was found, the Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a warning about the fake kidnappings of Chinese people in the United States.
Fake kidnappings around the world
Criminals have also attempted fake kidnappings of Chinese students in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan, VOA News found. It is not clear whether the criminals are working together or separately across these countries.
Theresa Payton is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the cybersecurity company Fortalice Solutions. She told VOA News that the complex relationship between the Chinese government and its citizens may move worldwide criminal groups to target Chinese students more than students from other countries.
Other security experts say that the criminals pretend to be Chinese police or government officials for a reason; they are using the strong Chinese security system to their advantage.
“Chinese people are naturally afraid of the police,” said Han Jiang Du Diao Seng, a pharmacist based in the United States. He runs accounts on YouTube and Weibo that are popular among Chinese exchange students.
Seng has helped four Chinese students caught up in cyber kidnapping, he said. He explained to VOA News how the scam, or illegal trick, works.
The criminals, pretending to be Chinese officials, first ask students if they have recently received money from their families. If they say yes, the criminals lie to the students. They may tell them that the money was sent illegally or they may tell them their families are targets of criminals. Then they tell the students to stop communicating with their family while officials look into the problem.
Soon, this makes the family believe their son or daughter has been kidnapped.
In the cases Seng worked on, he said, the criminals forced all the students to leave where they lived and go stay at a hotel. This made their families believe the students were actually kidnapped.
Seng said Chinese parents may be less likely to report their cases to American police. He noted that there is distrust among Chinese people of American police. Chinese state media often show American police as violent and irresponsible, Seng said.
Use of technology
There is no clear information on the number of cyber kidnapping cases in the U.S. or around the world, cybersecurity experts told VOA. However, the number of cases appears to be growing.
Improved technology, especially with artificial intelligence (AI), might make the cyber kidnappings easier for criminals, experts say.
AI can create deepfakes. Deepfake audio and pictures can make it seem like victims have actually been kidnapped, said Payton, the Fortalice Solutions CEO.
Joseph Steinberg is a cybersecurity expert based in New York City. He said improvements in AI mean that criminals do not even have to speak the same language as their victims.
“AI is only going to get better, and that means that the attacks will only be more and more realistic,” he told VOA.
Last February in Canada, police said Chinese students had been tricked out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by scammers claiming to be Chinese government officials.
In Japan last summer, at least six Chinese students were targeted in cyber kidnapping plans, local police said. The Chinese Embassy in Tokyo issued a warning about the scams in August.
Police in Britain issued a warning about cyber scams targeting Chinese students in September. And in October, the Australian government issued a similar warning.
Cybersecurity experts recommend families set up a password to check one another’s identity over the phone during these kinds of situations.
“The cyber kidnapping scam very much can happen to anybody, Steinberg said, “and that’s what people need to be aware of.”
I’m Faith Pirlo. And I’m Andrew Smith.
