Chinese exchange student Kai Zhuang was rescued from a cold and snowy Brigham City, Utah, mountain after he was a victim of an elaborate cyber kidnapping plot, police say. (Riverdale Police Department)
Police rescued a 17-year-old Chinese exchange student who nearly froze to death in the cold and snowy mountains of Utah after he was a victim of an elaborate cyber kidnapping plot.
The ordeal began around 8:30 p.m. Dec. 28 when Kai Zhuang’s high school called the Riverdale Police Department to report a kidnapping. The school told police that Kai’s parents contacted them from China after receiving a photo of him that indicated he was abducted along with a ransom note, Riverdale police Chief Casey Warren said in a press release. His parents told cops that they sent the alleged kidnappers $80,000 to Chinese bank accounts “due to continuous threats” from the suspects.
Officers responded to the boy’s host family who said they did not know Kai was missing. The family said Kai was home the night before and heard him the next morning. Cops found no evidence he was taken by force from the home.
Riverdale police began working with the FBI, the U.S. Embassy in China and Chinese officials to figure out what was going on.
“Through these interactions, we learned of a disturbing criminal trend called cyber kidnapping.” Warren said. “The FBI briefed us on several cases with very similar MO’s that have recently occurred in the US. Cyber kidnappers have been targeting exchange students, in particular, Chinese foreign exchange students.”
According to police, the scheme goes like this: Kidnappers contact the student and say they will harm their family unless the student complies with the kidnappers’ demands. While monitoring the students through FaceTime or Skype calls, they then tell the students to “isolate” themselves and take photos that look like they are being held captive. The victim sends the photos to their parents along with the kidnappers’ demand for money.
On Dec. 20, Kai, apparently under the guise of the alleged kidnappers, tried to go camping with a tent in Provo but was stopped by police there because they were concerned for his safety. They returned him to Riverdale, but Kai didn’t tell cops or his host family about the scheme, police said.
Cops pinged Kai’s phone which showed he had visited the Brigham City canyon area, and police, concerned he may freeze to death because of the cold temperatures, began looking for him via search teams and drones on Dec. 30. The next day, a Riverdale police sergeant hiked up the mountainside and found Kai’s tent. The boy was not injured but “very cold and scared,” police said.
“The victim was relieved to see police,” Warren wrote. “The victim had no heat source inside the tent, only a heat blanket, a sleeping bag, limited food and water and several phones that were presumed to be used to carry out the cyber kidnapping.”
Kai wanted to call his parents to make sure they were safe and requested a cheeseburger to warm up.
Warren warned that families of exchange students should not cooperate with the cyber kidnappers nor send money and contact police immediately should they become victims of the scheme.
“I want foreign exchange students to know they can trust the police to protect them and to work with police to ensure their safety as well as their family’s safety abroad,” Warren wrote.
Investigators will continue to search for the cyber kidnappers.
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