virtual kidnapping

This is a scam, directed at Chinese students in Australia.  The student is contacted by someone purporting to be a Chinese official who tells them that they have done something wrong for which they will be arrested when they return to China. They are gradually persuaded that they must do what they are told to prevent any harm coming to their parents in China. 

 The student fakes their own kidnapping, providing pictures of themselves bound and gagged. These pictures are then sent with a ransom demand to the parents. The student meanwhile is sent to a location away from their home so that the parents are unable to make contact and believe the kidnapping to be true, at least long enough to hand over, in some cases, large sums of money.