"Kidnapped" guest student found in Utah's wilderness
The case sounds unusual, but is said to occur repeatedly: In Utah, a Chinese exchange student retreats into the wilderness and sends his parents photos and a ransom note. But he doesn't want to get rich. Behind this is a nasty scam by cyber fraudsters.
A Chinese guest student who fell victim to an online kidnapping scam has been found alive in the wilderness of the US state of Utah. According to police, 17-year-old Kai Zhuang was reported missing on Thursday. His parents had previously contacted his host high school in Riverdale, Utah, from China and reported that their son had apparently been kidnapped and his kidnappers were demanding a ransom.
The case fit a familiar pattern of cyber-kidnapping, according to police, in which scammers instruct a victim to isolate themselves and provide photos indicating a kidnapping. The photos are then sent by the fraudsters to the victim's family in order to extort money. The victims of this scam comply with the instructions because they are led to believe that otherwise their family will be harmed.
Investigators in Utah came to the conclusion through radio cell searches that the 17-year-old was in a wilderness area near the town of Brigham City. Due to the winter cold, there were fears that the boy could freeze to death, the police explained.
Parents pay 80,000 dollars
A police officer finally found the 17-year-old on Sunday in a small tent on a hill. The officer had approached him "and discovered that he was alive, but freezing and scared". After his rescue, Kai's first request was for "a warm cheeseburger" and to speak to his parents on the phone, Riverdale police said. In the meantime, they had transferred a ransom of 80,000 dollars to the cyber criminals.
According to the US police, online scammers have recently been targeting foreign guest students more frequently, especially those from China. The Chinese embassy in Washington called on Chinese in the USA to be on their guard against "virtual kidnapping" and other forms of telephone and online fraud.
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The international police are currently investigating a trend of cybercrime targeting foreign guest students, with the USA being a primary location. This involves scammers pretending to abduct students and demanding ransoms, as seen in the case of 17-year-old Kai Zhuang who was rescued in Utah.
Despite the rescue, Kai's parents had already transferred a large sum of $80,000 to the cybercriminals, highlighting the desperate measures victims take to protect their loved ones in such situations.
Source: www.ntv.de
