Thai police have rescued a 21-year-old Chinese female student from a transnational scam gang, which used her as a ‘virtual kidnapping’ victim to demand about 3 million Hong Kong dollars, or 12.5 million baht, in ransom from her parents in Hong Kong.
Thai police were alerted by their counterparts in Hong Kong about the suspected virtual abduction after her parents became suspicious that their daughter, whose name has been withheld, was not actually kidnapped, but was forced by a scam gang to stage-manage the kidnapping.
According to Hong Kong police, the family had already paid a kidnap gang about three million baht in ransom in exchange for the release of her daughter in May. This time around, however, the parents suspected that the abduction of their daughter could be a ruse and alerted the police.
On June 1, the parents received a video clip in Hong Kong, showing their daughter in captivity, with her hands tied and bruises on her face, as if she had been assaulted by her captors. 3 million Hong Kong dollars were demanded in ransom, but they refused to pay.
After being alerted by Hong Kong police, Thai police immediately launched an investigation and discovered that the victim, a student, arrived in Bangkok from Hong Kong on June 1.
The student then checked into a hotel in the Lat Krabang area before going out to buy a rope and zip ties to stage-manage the virtual kidnapping scene, which was recorded on her cellphone. The video clip was then sent to the scam gang.
Thai police said that, after having stage-managed the fake abduction, she was ordered to move to another hotel in Bang Phli district, Samut Prakan.
Pol Maj Thiraphan Homchan, inspector of the Anti-Human Trafficking sub-division, said that, in this case, it appears that the victim was being mentally controlled by the scam gang and would do anything as ordered.
On Tuesday, Thai police traced the whereabouts of the victim and rescued her, just as she was in contact with the gang via video call.
Pol Gen Thatchai Pitaneelaboot, the deputy national police chief, said virtual kidnapping is quite rare in Thailand, but it is spreading in several countries, as he advised the public to be alert if they receive distress calls from someone in the family asking for money in exchange for their freedom from the captors.
After the rescue, police said that the victim’s parents flew into Bangkok to pick her up and then returned immediately to Hong Kong.
Police are still investigating the case in an attempt to capture the scam gang.
