Image: AAP Image, Bianca de Marchi
by GRACE JOHNSON
The community is being warned by NSW Police to stay on high alert for scams as a wave of ‘virtual kidnappings’ continues, targeting international students.
In October alone, three known incidents have been referred to State Crime Command’s Robbery and Serious Crime Squad, who worry that the fraudsters are evolving their tactics further.
Commander of the Squad, Detective Superintendent Joseph Doueihi, warns the modus operandi of the scammers appears to be changing.
“Virtual kidnappings have developed considerably over the last decade by transnational organised crime syndicates, and they continue to become more sophisticated.”
Virtual kidnappings are elaborate extortion scams that see victims forced to fake their own kidnappings.
It often begins with a phone call with a Mandarin speaker, claiming to be from a Chinese authority, such as the Chinese Embassy, Consulate or Police.
They convince the victim that they have been entangled in a crime in China, or that their identity has been stolen, and that they must pay a fee to avoid legal action, arrest or deportation.
In order to hide their location, the scammers continue communication through various encrypted platforms, such as WhatsApp and WeChat.
The victims are then coerced into transferring large sums of money into offshore accounts.
In some instances, victims are convinced to fake their own kidnappings – the ‘virtual kidnapping.’
Victims are instructed to stop contact with friends and relatives, rent a hotel, take photographs or videos that show them bound and blindfolded. These files are then shared with relatives overseas, who send large ransom payments when they are unable to make contact with the victim.
Detective Superintendent Doueihi said, “In some cases, we’re seeing evidence of the scammers talking to their victim for months on end.”
“We’ve also seen a couple of cases where the victim has eventually been coerced into then becoming the perpetrator and acting as a Chinese official to scam more students.”
The most recent of the three incidents to occur in October alone happened just three days ago. On Sunday October 15, officers from Sydney Police Area Command began investigating the whereabouts of a 23-year-old woman. They were told that she was last seen at 3pm the day before, and that her family had paid approximately $280,000 AUD to a Chinese bank account as a ransom for her ‘kidnapping.’ A short time later, police located the woman on Hunter St, where she gave an account consistent with virtual kidnapping scams.
Anyone who receives a call from someone claiming to be a Chinese authority should be hyper-vigilant is checking their authenticity, Detective Superintendent Doueihi says.
“While we are working with our law enforcement counterparts to investigate the origins of these scams, we are urging the community to heed our warnings not to respond to the caller’s demands,” he said.
“If you are ever on the receiving end of similar correspondence, the best thing to do is contact the Chinese Consulate to verify the claims, as well as report the matter to the NSW Police Force.”
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