[UPDATED] From online friends to hostages: How kidnapping gang traps foreigners

KUALA LUMPUR: Kidnap-for-ransom criminals targeted foreigners by pretending to be online friends or romantic interests, according to the Federal Criminal Investigation Department. The group lured victims using dating apps and social media like Telegram, WeChat, and Badoo. Once trust was established, victims were persuaded to meet a syndicate member in person, leading to their capture.

The kidnappers confined the victims in various houses, often short-term rentals, and demanded money through ransom or by controlling the victims' bank accounts. In one case, a Chinese woman in her 30s was introduced to a man by a foreign acquaintance via WeChat, only to be abducted upon arrival in Penang. The syndicate threatened to send her to Myanmar if her family couldn't pay the demanded US$20,000.

Police rescued the victims and arrested six suspects, including a Malaysian man, four foreign men, and a foreign woman, after a shootout at an Alor Star property.