Recently, two cross-border "virtual kidnapping" cases targeting Chinese teenagers have aroused social concern.
At the end of December 2023, Zhuang Kai, a 17-year-old Chinese exchange student, was found in a forest in Riverdale, Utah, USA. The family was scammed.
In early January, Zhang Lin, a young dancer working at the Hamburg Ballet in Germany, was also thought to be missing, and when Zhang Lin was found, her mother told reporters that her daughter had not been kidnapped in Germany, but had encountered a new type of Internet fraud, "the one that was **." ”
Similar cases of online scams, especially against Chinese teenagers studying and working overseas, are not uncommon. According to Hong Kong** statistics, from January to September 2023, **A total of 2,506 fraud cases were received, and the victims lost 7HK$0.5 billion (about HK$6.5 billion500 million yuan), of which virtual kidnapping is one of the common fraud methods.
In this regard, Su Xingbo, squadron leader of the 3rd Squadron of the 10th Detachment of the Criminal Investigation Corps of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, suggested that Chinese citizens should remain vigilant against telecom fraud, learn more about the prevention of telecom fraud, including common types of telecom fraud, master basic anti-fraud knowledge, and reduce the chance of being deceived. In addition, Chinese citizens abroad should also maintain good communication with their family members, minimize information gaps, and do not let anyone else know their whereabouts and status except for family members and emergency contacts.
On December 31, 2023 local time, Chinese students were safely found. Source: Riverdale Police Department, Utah, USA.
disappeared" family.
Three days after his disappearance, on December 31, 2023 local time, Zhuang Kai was found in a mountain forest in Utah, USA**. It was cold and the forest was full of snow. According to the local ** report, when he was found, Zhuang Kai was in a tent, very cold and scared, and only breathed a sigh of relief after seeing the police.
There was no heat source in the tent, just a heating blanket, a sleeping bag, limited food, water, and a few cell phones. Riverdale speculated that the phones were used to carry out virtual kidnappings — scammers threatening young foreign students, especially Chinese students, to self-isolate and stay away from crowds, monitor them through instant messaging software, coerce them into taking pictures of themselves as if they had been kidnapped, and then send them to their families, falsely claiming that they have been imprisoned, and demanding ransom from their families.
International students obey for fear that the scammers will harm their families. Riverdale said there have been several cases in the United States with similar modus operandi.
In this case, Zhuang Kai's parents did receive an offer from their son, who appeared to be kidnapped and in danger, and transferred about $80,000 to a Chinese bank account under constant threats.
Riverdale Police Department Sergeant Casey Warren told the Beijing News that the ransom has not been recovered, and the kidnappers have not been found, nor have they been identified, but they are sure that the kidnappers are in China, and that Zhuang Kai's family has told China all the clues.
On the evening of January 9, Beijing time, the principal dancer of the German Hamburg Ballet released a missing person notice on the Internet, saying that Zhang Lin, a young Chinese dancer working in the troupe, was missing, and many well-known ballet dancers were **. The missing person notice mentioned that the last time anyone saw Zhang Lin was at the end of the rehearsal at 1:30 p.m. local time on January 5 (8:30 p.m. Beijing time on January 5).
According to Ms. Chen, a friend of Ms. Zhang's, Ms. Chen has not heard of any abnormalities in her work and life. After Zhang Lin's disappearance, her family was in great torment.
At 6:40 p.m. on January 10, Beijing time, a reporter from the Beijing News learned from the Chinese Consulate General in Hamburg, Germany, that Zhang Lin had been found in Hamburg, and she was in good health and not in danger of life.
On January 25, Zhang Lin's mother told a reporter from the Beijing News that her daughter had met **. The other party pretended to be a domestic public prosecutor and bank staff, asked Zhang Lin to cut off contact with the surrounding people, and sent Zhang Lin's mother **and** who pretended to be Zhang Lin was kidnapped to defraud the ransom.
Pretending to be a public prosecutor and taking advantage of information ......Experts dismantle deception.
In this type of fraud case, impersonating the public prosecutor is a common method. Su Xingbo, squadron leader of the third squadron of the 10th detachment of the Criminal Investigation Corps of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, explained that they may inform the victim that they are involved in a case and ask the victim to cut off contact with the outside world and cooperate with the investigation. If the victim is a minor living alone in a foreign country far away from home, the speech will be adjusted according to the identity of the victim, requiring him to stay away from the crowd, thus creating the false impression of missing contact, and then demanding ransom from the victim's family members in China, forming a "virtual kidnapping" case of "two-headed deception".
Su Xingbo said that in this kind of fraud case, ** takes advantage of the information gap between the victim and the family - due to the geographical distance between the two parties and the time difference, the victim and the family often have poor communication and information synchronization. Although ** is in Chinese, it cannot be stated that ** committed the crime in China, and most of the time, ** committed the crime overseas.
Wu Shenkuo, doctoral supervisor of the Law School of Beijing Normal University and deputy director of the Research Center of the Internet Society of China, also believes that in such fraud cases, the victims are usually family members or close people with obvious time and space differences, such as international students and overseas workers.
* Usually use time and space differences to fabricate facts, and may tell the victim that there is some urgent public reason, such as a notice from a school or work, the investigation of a case, etc., and ask them to cut off contact with the outside world so as to cooperate with the investigation. According to Shen Kuo's analysis, they may tell the victim's family that the victim encounters flight danger, car accident, kidnapping and other unexpected accidents, and asks the family to make a quick payment.
Wu Shenkuo said that in order to increase the probability of success of fraud, ** usually uses public or non-public information channels on social networks and black market transactions to obtain information such as the victim's identity, social relations, and kinship, so as to customize personalized scams. At present, there is also a phenomenon of using high-tech means, including AI technology, to simulate sound, image and other enhancements to the feasibility of deception.
How can Chinese teenagers abroad raise their awareness of anti-fraud?
Su Xingbo reminded that Chinese citizens studying or working abroad should first be vigilant against telecom fraud, take the initiative to understand China's anti-fraud propaganda, and master certain anti-fraud knowledge. Do not disclose personal information, including name, identity card number, bank account number and password, address, etc., to strangers. "Even if the other party claims to be a domestic public prosecutor or bank staff, don't easily believe that personal information can be obtained through public channels on the Internet, or illegal channels, and it is possible to further obtain personal information through words. "When someone claiming to be a law enforcement officer or a relative or friend calls to ask for bank card information or a bank transfer, the correct thing to do is to contact the relative or friend as soon as possible to verify, or call the police for help.
He also mentioned that Chinese citizens abroad should try their best to maintain timely and good communication with their family members, reduce the information gap between the two parties, and avoid that when the parties have not synchronized their information with their families, the third party can grasp the status and whereabouts of the parties abroad, so as to facilitate the fraud. He said: "Without poor information, just like fraud without soil for growth, the parties and their families will not easily believe the words of **." ”
Wu Shenkuo also said that from the perspective of the judicial authorities, protecting citizens' personal information from being abused and illegally obtained can effectively reduce the probability of success of fraud. Individuals should also raise their awareness of anti-fraud, do not panic when encountering unexpected situations, use multiple channels to verify the facts, and make decisions after understanding the facts clearly.
Beijing News reporter Zuo Lin Peng Jingtao.