BBC World Service | The scammers who make you kidnap yourself - BBC Trending podcast, BBC World Service @BBCWorldService | Uploaded September 2024 | Updated October 2024, 5 hours ago.
It is one of the most bizarre crimes of our times. Con men posing as police officers are forcing Chinese students to fake their own kidnapping.

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Elaine Chong reports on the extremes to which criminals will go to make money from their victims. The scammers trick Chinese people studying abroad into believing that they are wanted for crimes back in their homeland, and that they must hand over large sums of money to avoid repercussions for them or their family. When the students can no longer meet the escalating demands they are told to fake their own kidnapping so the fake police can seek a ransom from their relatives back in China.

00:00 Introduction
02:11 What are virtual kidnappings?
06:08 What’s it like to be put under this extreme pressure?
10:37 So who is behind these scams?
13:51 How the fake Chinese police scam is changing
15:51 Recording a scam call

Watch how else Chinese people abroad are being scammed by the fake Chinese police 👉🏽 youtu.be/RGHeM79_Sk8

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