Abduction & Extortion Goes Online

Uploaded on 2024-01-08 in NEWS-Cybersecurity News, GOVERNMENT-Law Enforcement, FREE TO VIEW

A new criminal trend has emerged known as 'cyber kidnapping' that parents across the globe could fall victim to. Recently, a Chinese exchange student fell victim to the exploit in which his parents were extorted for $80,000 in the US.

The missing student was later found safe inside a tent on a Utah mountainside following a days long search in what police have called a case of "cyber kidnapping." Kai Zhuang was discovered ‘very cold and scared’ inside a tent in the Brigham City Canyon area of Utah.

Indeed, the FBI is now investigating the emergent criminal exploit, where a victim is intimidated to stage their own kidnapping and film it, providing blackmail material against their own families.

“The FBI is warning the public about criminal actors impersonating Chinese police officers to defraud the US-based Chinese community, in particular Chinese students attending universities in the United States... The criminal actors tell victims they are being investigated for an alleged financial crime in China and need to pay to avoid arrest. The criminal actors then direct victims to consent to 24/7 video and audio monitoring,” said the FBI in a Public Services Announcement.

This warning follows numerous similar messages issued by Chinese and Australian officials throughout 2023 and comes after the first well-documented "cyber kidnapping" case of this severity in the US.

Authorities in Utah have confirmed that the 17-year-old foreign exchange student was forced to isolate at the instruction of “cyber kidnappers” who extorted tens of thousands of dollars from him and his family. The the local Police Department first asked for the public’s assistance in helping find Kai Zhuang on 28 December, after his host family was notified by Zhuang’s high school that he had been kidnapped. Mr Zhuang’s family in China, had received a photo of him and a ransom letter demanding money.

Police said that cyber kidnappers targeted Mr Zhuang for a month before he went missing, threatening to harm his family if he didn’t send large sums of ransom that they demanded.When Mr Zhuang’s family questioned him about the missing money, the cyber kidnappers then intimidated him into self-isolation inside a tent in the remote Brigham City Canyon area.

As a result of the fake kidnapping scheme, Mr Zhuang and his parents paid $80,000 to the cyber kidnappers.

Zhuang had been captured on surveillance video purchasing camping gear, leading detectives to believe that he had used it to camp out. Several law enforcement agencies began searching for Zhuang on a Utah mountainside after learning that he had visited the area.

Police had previously stated that they did not believe Zhuang had been forcefully taken by kidnappers, but now the investigation into the cyber kidnapping plot is ongoing. The local police has asked for anyone with information about the incident to contact them.

IC3 : NBC: ABC: Independent: Livemint: facebook: Image: Gül Işık

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