Overseas Asian students preying on their own
There’s literally thousands of overseas Asian students that come here to study. The number is large enough that it’s a society within a society. There’s the rich, the middle-class and the ones who have only themselves to rely on for living expenses and the cost of their education. There’s also the sensible and not-so-sensible; the law-abiding and the criminal.
Through various reasons: gambling at the casinos, buying and living beyond their means etc., some would squander the money from their parents that are meant for their education and living costs. And some of these would become desperate and would resort to extreme measures to fix their financial dilemma. And who would they prey on? Their fellow overseas students. Why? Because it’s easy especially when the victim maybe a housemate, a friend of a friend, or even a close friend. Ppl whom they are envious of because they’d flaunt their wealth or behave austentiously. Or just fellow struggling students who are unlucky enough to consider these ppl their friends.
This is the most recent case.
Victorian County Court Judge John Smallwood today said Mr Zhang’s captors forced the Hawthorn Language School student to reveal his banking personal identification number before withdrawing $25,000 from his account.They also forced him to arrange for his parents to send money from China.
In total, Mr Zhang’s captors stole almost $80,000.
(Source: Jailed for torturing student – The Nation – Breaking News 24/7 – NEWS.com.au)
I say “recent” because it has happened before:
Since 1997 [to 2003], there have been 30 kidnappings in Sydney. Of those, 19 involved Asian victims and perpetrators, in many cases students. Some have been studying English at one of the many colleges that have sprung up in NSW, mainly in Sydney, since the 1990s.Until recently, all the victims had been either let go or freed by police. But late last month [August 2003], their worst fears were realised when Vay Linh Phun, a UTS student, was kidnapped and $70,000 ransom demanded. She was found in her car, strangled.
(Source: Far from home, with kidnap on their minds – National – smh.com.au)
Unfortunately, so long as there are young immature children, some spoilt rotten by their parents, being expected to handle large sums of money responsibly, and who are sent overseas to live without any moral or disciplinary guidelines, this will continue to happen.
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yes it is disgraceful indeed! there was a case about 2 years back where two singaporeans studying in UNSW were allegedly murdered by their housemate who is singaporean too. the ostensible motive was that they quarelled over money and the murder overspent and was weeks behind his rent.
i’ve heard that there’s a case of a crime of passion involving two hong kong students studying in curtin a couple of years back where the bf killed and stashed his gf’s body in his wardobe for days. was it true?
the v.u.: the stories I’ve heard are mostly from Sydney or Melbourne. The Curtin one I’ve never read or heard about it in the news.
All of this basically goes to show that sometimes when you thrust kids, who may have been sheltered their entire lives, who are not emotionally mature out into a situation where they are all on their own, disastrous things can happen.