Local students who are studying abroad should be highly alert to “virtual kidnapping” scams to avoid damage to their personal and property safety, the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) said in a statement yesterday.
The statement noted that a Macau student fell for a “virtual kidnapping” scam in Europe recently, which affected his studies and caused him huge financial losses.
In view of the growing number of “virtual kidnapping” online scams targeting Chinese students abroad and the post-pandemic resumption of international exchanges which has led to an increasing number of Macau students going abroad again for studies and exchanges, the statement called on local students to constantly raise their personal safety awareness and take precautionary measures.
The statement said that criminals have repeatedly succeeded in extorting money by using threats and intimidation, illegally gaining access to personal assets and producing bogus “kidnapping” videos, thereby causing huge losses and serious trauma to the victims.
The statement urged students studying abroad to protect their personal documents such as their passport, identity card, and details such as phone and bank account numbers, as well as passwords, and to be vigilant in screening phone calls from unknown numbers, especially those purporting to be police officers.
The statement also noted that if parents of students studying overseas receive extortion messages claiming that their children had been kidnapped, they should contact to the local police and Chinese public security authorities and request help.
Anyone seeking help can call the following numbers:
Global Emergency Call Centre for Consular Protection and Services Emergency Hotline: 0086-10-12308 or 0086-10-65612308;
Consular protection and service hotline of the Office of the Commissioner of the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC in the MSAR: 00853-66888353;
MSAR Government Hotline: Judiciary Police (PJ) on 00853-993, Public Security Police (PSP) on 00853-28573333.
This file photo downloaded yesterday shows the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) on Avenida de Marciano Baptista in Zape.
