[ti:Cyber 'Kidnapping' Scams Target Chinese Students]
[al:As It Is]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2024-01-16]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]Late last month, 17-year-old Chinese student Kai Zhuang was reported missing near Salt Lake City in the American state of Utah.
[00:11.16]He was found days later, alone and cold in a tent in the mountains north of the city.
[00:19.44]Officials say the case was part of a cyber, or online, plan by criminals.
[00:26.16]The criminals tried to get $80,000 in ransom money by making Zhuang's family believe he had been kidnapped. 
[00:35.47]Ransom is money that is paid to release a kidnapped person.
[00:40.42]Zhuang's case is one of many in which unknown criminals target Chinese students around the world and pretend to kidnap them.
[00:50.89]The criminals often pretend to be Chinese police or government officials.
[00:56.92]They convince the students to leave the places where they live and go stay at a hotel.
[01:03.94]Then they threaten the students' families and ask for tens of thousands of dollars for the release of their children.
[01:13.20]On January 3, just days after Kai Zhuang was found, the Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a warning about the fake kidnappings of Chinese people in the United States.
[01:27.87]Criminals have also attempted fake kidnappings of Chinese students in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan, VOA News found.
[01:44.36]It is not clear whether the criminals are working together or separately across these countries.
[01:53.76]Theresa Payton is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the cybersecurity company Fortalice Solutions.
[02:06.13]She told VOA News that the complex relationship between the Chinese government and its citizens may move worldwide criminal groups to target Chinese students more than students from other countries.
[02:25.44]Other security experts say that the criminals pretend to be Chinese police or government officials for a reason; they are using the strong Chinese security system to their advantage.
[02:45.72]"Chinese people are naturally afraid of the police," said Han Jiang Du Diao Seng, a pharmacist based in the United States.
[02:56.47]He runs accounts on YouTube and Weibo that are popular among Chinese exchange students.
[03:05.55]Seng has helped four Chinese students caught up in cyber kidnapping, he said. He explained to VOA News how the scam, or illegal trick, works.
[03:19.74]The criminals, pretending to be Chinese officials, first ask students if they have recently received money from their families.
[03:31.11]If they say yes, the criminals lie to the students. 
[03:36.82]They may tell them that the money was sent illegally or they may tell them their families are targets of criminals. 
[03:47.15]Then they tell the students to stop communicating with their family while officials look into the problem.
[03:56.15]Soon, this makes the family believe their son or daughter has been kidnapped.
[04:04.08]In the cases Seng worked on, he said, the criminals forced all the students to leave where they lived and go stay at a hotel.
[04:15.68]This made their families believe the students were actually kidnapped.
[04:22.74]Seng said Chinese parents may be less likely to report their cases to American police. 
[04:31.38]He noted that there is distrust among Chinese people of American police. 
[04:39.11]Chinese state media often show American police as violent and irresponsible, Seng said.
[04:48.57]There is no clear information on the number of cyber kidnapping cases in the U.S. or around the world, cybersecurity experts told VOA.
[05:00.97]However, the number of cases appears to be growing.
[05:05.30]Improved technology, especially with artificial intelligence (AI), might make the cyber kidnappings easier for criminals, experts say.
[05:16.67]AI can create deepfakes. 
[05:19.49]Deepfake audio and pictures can make it seem like victims have actually been kidnapped, said Payton, the Fortalice Solutions CEO.
[05:30.19]Joseph Steinberg is a cybersecurity expert based in New York City. 
[05:36.24]He said improvements in AI mean that criminals do not even have to speak the same language as their victims.
[05:44.57]"AI is only going to get better, and that means that the attacks will only be more and more realistic," he told VOA.
[05:55.70]Last February in Canada, police said Chinese students had been tricked out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by scammers claiming to be Chinese government officials.
[06:08.74]In Japan last summer, at least six Chinese students were targeted in cyber kidnapping plans, local police said. 
[06:17.81]The Chinese Embassy in Tokyo issued a warning about the scams in August.
[06:23.51]Police in Britain issued a warning about cyber scams targeting Chinese students in September.
[06:31.49]And in October, the Australian government issued a similar warning.
[06:37.70]Cybersecurity experts recommend families set up a password to check one another's identity over the phone during these kinds of situations.
[06:48.31]"The cyber kidnapping scam very much can happen to anybody, Steinberg said, "and that's what people need to be aware of."
[06:58.44]I'm Faith Pirlo. And I'm Andrew Smith.