After video calls threatening a 17-year-old girl with criminal charges, impersonators posing as police extorted 466 million VND, then staged an online kidnapping to extort her father.
Threatened by "online police," an 18-year-old student sold gold and borrowed money through an app, transferring 80 million VND to criminals before traveling to Dak Lak province to isolate himself.
Two students in Ho Chi Minh City were threatened and forced into self-isolation in hotel rooms after receiving calls from criminals impersonating police officers. Their families were extorted for 600 million VND.
Following a series of online kidnappings targeting students across Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City police have formed a specialized unit to swiftly investigate and address these crimes.
An 18-year-old student told her mother she was going out for work and then lost contact. Later, her family received messages saying she had been kidnapped and demanding a ransom, threatening to sell her to Cambodia if they didn't comply.
A Hanoi university student was tricked into staging her own kidnapping after receiving a call from scammers posing as police officers. The perpetrators instructed her to inflict superficial injuries on herself and demand a 370 million VND ransom from her family, threatening to "cut off her fingers" otherwise.
Threatened by a group posing as police, a student rented a hotel room and filmed a self-made kidnapping and torture video, complete with simulated electrocution, to send to his family. The criminals demanded a 500 million VND ransom.
A student befriended a supposed delivery driver on Zalo to check on a package, but then received a video call from someone impersonating a police officer. She was threatened and forced to transfer 800 million VND and cut off contact with everyone.
