Six people have been arrested after a teenager was kidnapped and held for ransom.
The 19-year-old Chinese national told a friend via WeChat he was being held hostage in an apartment in Melbourne's CBD on August 16.
The men were armed with weapons and demanded he hand over $200,000, according to Victoria Police.
Officers arrived at the apartment in the early hours of August 17 and the man was found without incident.
Three Chinese nationals were later arrested in raids on properties in the CBD and Docklands.
Two men, aged 22 and 23, were charged with several offences including false imprisonment, attempted armed robbery, extortion and blackmail.
The pair were bailed after facing the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday and will appear again in November.
A 21-year-old man was released pending further inquiries.
On Monday, three more Chinese nationals aged 23, 25 and 27 were arrested and released.
It comes after Victoria Police raised the alarm about scams targeting Mandarin-speaking Chinese students.
The extortion schemes often involve people falsely claiming to be police or Chinese government officials who threaten victims with being charged or deported unless they hand over large sums of money.
The investigation into the incident at the CBD apartment is ongoing and anyone with information about the scams is urged come forward.
