The scammers, who usually speak Mandarin, then demand the student pay ongoing fees in order to avoid arrest or deportation.<\/p>\n
In some cases, the students are also convinced to cease contact with their family and friends, rent a hotel room and fake a hostage situation to obtain funds from their relatives overseas.<\/p>\n
In one case, a father had already paid more than A$2m (\u00a31.1m; $1.43m) in ransom payments, before receiving a video of his daughter gagged and bound in an unknown location.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He then contacted police in Sydney who, after an hour’s search, found the woman safe and well at a hotel room in the city.<\/p>\n In other cases reported to police this year, payments ranged from A$20,000 to A$300,000.<\/p>\n “On some occasions, [families] have basically paid every cent they’ve got,” said Detective Chief Superintendent Darren Bennett.<\/p>\n In many of the cases, when police were contacted they typically found the victim safe the next day. Often the victims felt too embarrassed or ashamed to report the crime.<\/p>\n “The victims of virtual kidnappings we have engaged are traumatised by what has occurred, believing they have placed themselves, and their loved ones, in real danger,” said NSW Police.<\/p>\n Police said the scam was operating on a mass scale, and appeared to involve a blitz of automated phone calls sent to anyone with a Chinese surname in the phone book.<\/p>\n “They cast their net very widely and they’re getting a few people who fall for it, which is very lucrative for them,” said Mr Bennett.<\/p>\n He noted that there had been a sharp increase in the past few months, where “pretty much every weekend we’ve had a victim fall for one of these scams.”<\/p>\n Advocates for international students in Australia say they have been more vulnerable amid the pandemic due to their reliance on casual work, and their exclusion from government welfare.<\/p>\n Police said “cultural factors”, as well as the isolation of some international students, made them a vulnerable target.<\/p>\n Victims could then be manipulated into extremes such as faking a kidnap because they had fallen under the scammer’s “psychological control”, Mr Bennett said.<\/p>\n “Students can do two important things to protect themselves against these types of crimes – firstly, be aware they exist and secondly, ask for help early if they think it might be happening to them or someone they know,” said NSW Police.<\/p>\n There have also been reports of such frauds occurring in New Zealand and the United States.<\/p>\n Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"Police-supplied](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/95F1\/production\/_113658383_pic2.jpg\")
<\/span>Why are people falling for it?<\/h2>\n