Bizarre virtual kidnapping in Australia highlights risk to Chinese students

Virtual kidnappings targeting young Chinese adults are estimated to have netted billions of dollars worldwide

When someone falls victim to fraud, the common lament is that the con sounded too good to be true. But for the victims of so-called virtual kidnappings', it is the opposite; it sounds so terrible that it couldn't be real.

In the latest case revealed by police in New South Wales this week, a 22-year-old man was convinced by the scammers that he had to take a female high-school student - a complete stranger - into witness protection at his apartment.