Two kidnapping scam victims found in Cambodia

Two victims living in the city-state who were duped by scammers into staging separate kidnappings were found in Cambodia in October, thanks to joint investigations by police from both countries.

On Friday, the Singapore police said the two victims, aged 21 and 22, who are university students, were reported by their parents in China to have been kidnapped.

But with help from the Cambodian police, they were subsequently found in Phnom Penh and were reunited with their families. Both cases were similar, with the victims’ parents receiving a video from an unknown person showing their child with hands bound. This was followed by many ransom demands.

Each victim, while in Singapore, had received a call from someone who claimed to be a police officer from China.

In the 21-year-old’s case, he was told that his particulars had been used to spread misinformation about monkeypox cases in China.

The 22-year-old was accused of having a mobile number registered in his name that was associated with the spread of Covid-19-related rumours in Guangdong, China.

In both cases, the victims were ordered to assist in police investigations and were told to travel to Cambodia to carry out certain missions as part of the investigations.

When the victims arrived in Phnom Penh, they were told to record videos of themselves pretending to be a kidnap victim for the purposes of scam education and investigations.

They were also instructed to stay at different hotels and to cease all communication with family and friends.

The parents of the 21-year-old student made a police report in Singapore on Oct 19 after receiving a video of the alleged kidnapping and a demand for two million yuan (RM1.3mil) for the release of their son.

The 22-year-old’s parents filed a police report on Oct 22 after receiving a similar video and a demand of 800,000 yuan (RM520,700).

No ransom was paid in both cases, said the police. — The Straits Times/ANN