Six people have been arrested over their alleged involvement in kidnapping a Chinese teenager and a subsequent attempt to extort money from him.

Police arrested the six men, who are all from China, after the 19-year-old victim reached out to a friend via Chinese messaging app WeChat.

Detectives have arrested six people as part of their investigation into an incident in which a Chinese national was kidnapped and attempts were made to extort money from him. Credit: Paul Rovere

The man used WeChat to tell the friend that a number of armed men were holding him hostage in a Melbourne apartment. Police say the men demanded $200,000 from the teenager.

Police swooped on the CBD apartment in the early hours of August 17 and located the man “without incident”, they said.