The scammers who make you kidnap yourself

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It’s one of the most bizarre crimes of our times. Con men posing as police officers are forcing Chinese students to fake their own kidnapping. In the second part of a special BBC Trending investigation into Chinese police impersonation scams, Elaine Chong reports on the extremes to which criminals will go to make money from their victims. The scammers trick Chinese people studying abroad into believing that they are wanted for crimes back in their homeland, and that they must hand over large sums of money to avoid repercussions for them or their family. When the students can no longer meet the escalating demands they are told to fake their own kidnapping so the fake police can seek a ransom from their relatives back in China. Elaine hears how the victims have to isolate themselves, and are ordered to take photos of themselves tied up with tomato ketchup or make up on their bodies to make it appear they have been abducted and harmed. These images are then used to extort money from their families. While there has been a crackdown on scam gangs operating from countries like Myanmar and Laos, there are worrying signs that the scams are becoming ever more elaborate and convincing. With some scammers already adopting artificial intelligence to make deepfake videos, it will become ever more difficult to tell fact from criminal fiction. Presenter: Elaine Chong Producer: Ed Main Additional Reporting: Yi Ma