Authorities in Utah have confirmed that a missing 17-year-old foreign exchange student was forced to isolate at the instruction of “cyber kidnappers” who extorted tens of thousands of dollars from him and his family.
The Riverdale Police Department first asked for the public’s assistance in helping find Kai Zhuang on 28 December, after his host family was notified by Zhuang’s high school that he had been kidnapped.
Mr Zhuang’s family, who reside in China, had received a photo of him and a ransom letter demanding money.
Police said that cyber kidnappers in the Asian country targeted Mr Zhuang for a month before he went missing, threatening to harm his family if he didn’t send large sums of money that they requested.
“Basically, [the kidnappers said], ‘If you don’t do exactly what we say, then your parents will be in danger.’ He’s talking to them, not in person, but over the phone because they’re from China,” Riverdale Police Chief Casey Warren told KUTV. “So, he’s believing he’s doing these things in the US to protect his family in China.”
When Mr Zhuang’s family questioned him about the missing money, the cyber kidnappings then forced him to isolate inside a tent in the Brigham City Canyon area. As a result of the fake kidnapping scheme, Mr Zhuang and his parents paid $80,000 to the cyber kidnappers.
“Once that happened, obviously he’s not able to send the money to the kidnappers, that’s when they ‘upped the ante,’ if you will, and said, ‘OK, now you’re going to do this so we can get more money from your parents,” Chief Warren added. “They told him to leave and isolate himself and they began targeting the parents, directly.”
Mr Zhuang had been captured on surveillance video purchasing camping gear, leading detectives to believe that he had used it to camp out. Several law enforcement agencies began searching for Mr Zhuang on a Utah mountainside on Saturday night after learning that he had visited the area.
Kai Zhuang, a 17-year-old foreign student from China, was trageted by cyber kidnappers— (FOX 13 Utah)
On Sunday, the exchange student was found “very cold and scared” inside a tent.
“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,” Riverdale Police Chief Casey Warren previously said.
Investigators with the agency hiked on foot to the wooded area where Mr Zhuang had been isolated. According to the department, Mr Zhuang was relieved to see law enforcement personnel and asked for a cheeseburger and to speak with his family.
The FBI, the Chinese Embassy, Brigham City police, Utah DPS Aero Bureau and Weber County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue Drone team assisted Riverdale police in the search efforts.
Police had previously stated that they did not believe Mr Zhuang had been forcefully taken by kidnappers.
Chief Warren said during a press conference last week that cyber kidnappers often target foreign exchange students when carrying out false kidnapping scams. Victims are told their families are in danger and are instructed to isolate themselves.
They are forced to take pictures of themselves in distress, which the cyber kidnappers then use to demand money from worried families.
People who believe they have been targeted by cyber kidnappers are advised to cut all communications with them and contact law enforcement immediately.
The investigation into the cyber kidnapping plot is still ongoing.
The Riverdale Police Department has asked for anyone with information about the incident to contact detectives.
