绑匪索要价值574万的比特币为赎金 Kidnappers of Chinese student want bitcoin for ransom

A Chinese student has allegedly been abducted(绑架 bǎngjià) in Sydney, Australia and his kidnappers are demanding(索取 suǒqǔ) ransom(赎金 shújīn) in bitcoin, according to the Nanfang Metropolis Daily.

Last Friday, University of Technology Sydney freshman Ye Jingwang, 20, sent a message(信息 xìnxī) to his father asking for an email address where his school can send files. Ye's father gave him an address and asked him about how he was doing but got no reply.

A screenshot from a video Ye Jingwang's father received showing Ye's blood stained face. [Screenshot taken by Nanfang Metropolis Daily]

On Saturday, the father received a video from Ye's WeChat account claiming the kidnappers have Ye, who appeared to have blood stains on his blind folded face and told his father in the video "Dad, they ask you to cooperate with their boss."

The suspected kidnappers later sent an email to Ye's father demanding 80 bitcoins (worth 820,000 U.S. dollars) for ransom.

Ye's father is seeking help from the police and Australia's NGO AEAAI.

AEAAI said it cannot yet confirm the authenticity(真实性 zhēnshí xìng) of the video.

The NGO's president Liu Huifeng told the Nanfang Metropolis Daily that police have not ruled out the possibilities of a scam or a "virtual kidnapping."

Liu said Ye's family are applying for their Australian visas.

This undated photo shows Ye Jingwang who is a freshman at the University of Technology Sydney. [File Photo obtained by Nanfang Metropolis Daily]

Virtual kidnapping is a new type of fraud(诈骗 zhàpiàn) that targets Chinese students who study overseas. Victims are usually forced to appear in hostage videos so scammers can extort money from their parents, according to the Telegraph.

Similar cases have been reported in the U.K. and Canada.

The Chinese embassy in London and China's Consulate-General in Adelaide have both issued warnings about such scams.

重点词汇 Key words:

绑架 <动词 v.> kidnap; abduct

• E.g. Zài guāngtiānhuàrì zhī xià jìng fāshēng bǎngjià shìjiàn.
  在光天化日之下竟发生绑架事件。
  The abduction took place in broad daylight.

赎金 <名词 n.> ransom; redeem

• E.g. Bǎngfěi yào tāmen jiāofù liǎng bǎi wàn shújīn.
  绑匪要他们交付两百万赎金。
  The kidnappers demanded of him a ransom of two million dollars.