A Chinese teenager has been returned to safety after being “cyber kidnapped.” Never heard of “cyber kidnapping”? Well, it’s an early front-runner for the hot new cybercrime trend of 2024.
Police in the tiny community of Riverdale, Utah say that 17-year-old Chinese exchange student Kai Zhuang was the victim of a criminal plot in which online ghouls convinced him to trudge off into the mountains and stay there while they proceeded to extort his family out of tens of thousands of dollars.
Riverdale police were initially contacted about Zhuang’s disappearance on Dec. 28th, when his high school reported him missing. School officials told authorities they had been contacted by the victim’s family, who said they had received a picture of him that indicated “he was abducted.”
Police subsequently contacted Zhuang’s Riverdale host family, who told them that they had not realized he was missing and that he had been home just the previous evening. Zhuang’s real family in China told police they had surrendered as much as $US80,000 to the criminals as part of an extortion plot connected to his disappearance.
After working together with the FBI and Chinese authorities, local police searched the victim’s phone and financial records and found that he had recently visited a local canyon area. They subsequently launched a search and rescue mission in that area and found Zhuang in a tent in the mountains. Zhuang is described as having been “cold and scared,” with no heat source other than a blanket and “limited food and water.” He also had several phones, which police presumed were being used to communicate with the “cyber kidnappers.”
The Riverdale PD’s press release provides additional details about this bizarre “cyber kidnapping” trend, in which criminals use online manipulation to isolate victims and proceed to convince their families that they are being forcibly held against their will. Police say they were briefed on the “disturbing criminal trend” by the FBI, who told them that this sort of thing has happened a number of times in the U.S. The press release reads:
Cyber kidnappers have been targeting foreign exchange students, in particular, Chinese foreign exchange students. The kidnappers threaten the young foreign exchange students and their family, and they demand ransom. They tell the victim to isolate themselves and they monitor them through Facetime calls and or Skype. The cyber kidnappers convince the victim under duress to take pictures of themselves that make it appear they are being held captive and send the photos to their parents. The victims comply out of fear that their families will be harmed if they don’t comply with the cyber kidnappers.
It all sounds pretty nefarious, though the entire criminal scheme seems to hinge on the victim being convinced that the “kidnappers” pose a legitimate threat. In short: If somebody calls you and tries to convince you to trek off into the mountains by yourself, my advice would be to promptly hang up and block their number. You’ll be saving yourself a whole lot of trouble.