Thai police officers reunited Chinese parents with their daughter after a scammer attempted to swindle the Chinese nationals by operating a virtual kidnapping for ransom.
The Chinese couple filed a complaint at Sriracha Police Station in Chon Buri province saying their 22 year old daughter, who was studying in Australia, was kidnapped and transported to Thailand. The suspect accused the Chinese couple’s daughter of breaking a law in Australia and demanded 40 million baht to secure her safety.
Amarin TV reported that the woman arrived alone at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok on April 13. She spent a night at a hotel near the airport and then disappeared.
On April 17, around 10am, the woman contacted her mother and requested money. During the call, a male suspect also threatened the Chinese couple, pressuring them to transfer the funds. Later that day, the woman departed Bangkok for the Sriracha district of Chon Buri province.
She spent the night in Sriracha before checking out of the hotel. Afterwards, she acquired a new SIM card and returned to Bangkok, where she checked into a hotel in the Bangrak district. Thai police subsequently located her at the hotel and escorted her to meet her parents at Bangrak Police Station.
Police believe the scammer operated a virtual kidnapping for ransom, threatening the woman to comply with their demands. However, the woman has not yet provided all the details of the virtual kidnapping to the police.
Her parents decided to drop the legal process after reuniting with their daughter and finding that she was safe.
Channel 7 reported that virtual kidnappings for ransom are becoming increasingly common among Chinese students in Australia. Scammers coerce victims into faking their kidnapping and extort money from their parents or guardians.
A similar incident was reported in Thailand in August last year when several Thai university students were lured by scammers into faking kidnappings for ransom to extort their parents.
Most of the students were forced to film fake abduction videos and send them to their parents. The parents were threatened not to report the matter to the police for their children’s safety. Thai police were able to rescue several victims before their families lost all the money.
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