October 21, 2026 Epoch Times report: A kidnapping and robbery case involving Chinese nationals occurred in the Philippines in 2022. Recently, the victim Mr. Wang revealed the harrowing details of being held at gunpoint by four Chinese compatriots and detained for five days.
According to a report by The Beijing News on October 20, 2022, Mr. Wang, a man from Shandong province, was in Manila, Philippines accompanying his child for studies when a fellow Chinese national, Chen, took advantage of a low-cost car purchase scheme to abscond with approximately 200,000 RMB (Chinese Yuan) from him. Later, under the guise of returning the money, Chen lured him to his residence.
Mr. Wang recalled that on the morning of July 18, 2022, around 7 a.m., he was still in bed when the door of his room was forcefully opened, and to his horror, he saw Chen brandishing a gun alongside three other individuals charging towards him. He struggled vigorously but was beaten by the assailants. “Chen struck me on the head with the gun, causing me to bleed profusely,” he mentioned.
“In that helpless situation, I had no way out. I fervently hoped that the police would storm in and rescue me, eliminating the bandits on the spot,” he said.
In a video interview with The Beijing News, he displayed multiple scars on his body, indicating that even after four years, his arms, legs, and head still bore the marks of the ordeal.
Subsequently, Chen and his accomplices handcuffed Mr. Wang’s hands and feet, covered his eyes, mouth, and nose with tape, and transported him to another location for confinement.
During this period, Chen threatened to kill him, sell his child to an amusement park, and coerced him to borrow money from relatives and friends. Fortunately, his friends refused to lend him money and promptly informed his wife about his abduction, leading his wife to report the incident to the police.
“In that environment, the windows were all locked and equipped with protective mesh. Even if you managed to flee, you wouldn’t get far. If caught, the consequences would be dire,” he explained.
The suspect Chen demanded the victim to engage in a video call with his family, pressuring them to drop the case, warning them of severe repercussions otherwise.
“If the case is not dropped, I told my wife: you might well become a widow the next day, and you may never see your children again in your life,” Mr. Wang recounted emotionally.
“If they perceived any lack of cooperation from me, based on flimsy reasons, they could easily deceive my children out. I had no choice. As a father, for the sake of my life and my child, I had to comply. There was no other option,” he said hoarsely.
After transferring all of Mr. Wang’s stocks and bank savings in the Philippines, Chen released him. Mr. Wang disclosed that he was held captive for a total of five days, incurring losses of nearly 700,000 RMB.
Upon returning to China, Mr. Wang reported the incident to the police. On December 7, 2023, the police initially filed it as a fraud case, which was later revised to a robbery case on September 24, 2025. Subsequently, on September 30, 2026, the case was transferred to the prosecutor’s office, and it is currently in the stage of reviewing for prosecution.
Given the recurring nature of similar incidents, Chinese netizens couldn’t help but lament, “You have to be cautious of your fellow countrymen wherever you are.”