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In the cold early morning on New Year's Day, Mr Kang arrived in Zhengzhou, in China's Henan province, to demand answers in a bid to unfreeze his bank account.
Key points:
- Chinese police arrested more than 230 people for bank fraud
- Victims have been unable to withdraw money from frozen back accounts for nine months
- They say their protests have been met with intimidation and beatings by police
But shortly after he stepped out of the car after the 18-hour journey from Shanghai, he was bundled into a police car and detained.
Mr Kang is one of more than a thousand people left unable to withdraw their own money after a financial scandal rocked four banks in rural China.
The 34-year-old said he had deposited about 2.1 million yuan ($450,000) – his family's whole life savings — in his now-frozen account.
Since April last year, at least 40 billion yuan ($8.5 billion) has been frozen in four of the small-sized banks, including Mr Kang's bank, Yuzhou Xinminsheng Village Bank, as well as Shangcai Huimin Village Bank, Zhecheng Huanghuai Village Bank and Kaifeng Xindongfang Village Bank.
It triggered months of massive protests.
Warning: This story contains details that may be distressing to some readers
Mr Kang, who gave only his surname as he feared repercussions from Chinese authorities, said he was "on the verge of collapse" due to his family's massive financial burden.
The financial strife has also caused immense personal loss.
Four months ago, Mr Kang's wife became pregnant. Although they had hoped to have a second child for a long time, he said they eventually aborted the pregnancy due to their dire financial straits.
"We couldn't afford to go back to the check-ups," he said.
"[My wife] cried for a long time."
Banks embroiled in Ponzi-like scheme
Mr Kang said he, along with his parents, his wife and his wife's parents, had funnelled money into a transaction deposit account.
That account allowed for unlimited withdrawals at any time without prior notice – so having his funds frozen came as a shock.
According to Chinese state-owned media Xinhua News Agency, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) in May said the incident was due to fraud committed by the banks' shareholder, Henan New Fortune Group.
The four rural banks had promised customers high returns of between 13 and 18 per cent, in what has now been described as a Ponzi-like scheme.
The Xinhua report said the CBIRC and the People's Bank of China will "resolutely punish financial crimes and protect the legal rights and interests of depositors in accordance with the law".
In August, authorities arrested 234 suspected bank scammers in connection to the case.
"The criminal group, headed by [the company's CEO] Lv Yi, illegally took control of four rural banks, including Yuzhou Xinminsheng Village Bank, and are suspected of committing a series of severe crimes," the police statement said.
"In addition to the normal deposit interest, the criminal gang used part of the illegally accessed funds, with an annual rate of return of an extra rate standard of 13 per cent to 18 per cent, as bait to attract funds.
"This extra rate was taken by multiple money brokers, then given to some of the bank customers with large deposits."
On Monday this week, Beijing Business Today (an outlet affiliated to the Beijing propaganda department), reported in a now-deleted post that the four banks had started returning money to customers who had over 500,000 yuan ($106,000) in their accounts.
However, Mr Kang and four other bank customers who met that requirement told the ABC that their funds remain frozen.
The four banks and the CBIRC have been contacted for comment.
Allegations of police brutality
On New Year's Day, Mr Kang said a man in plain clothes "came behind me and shoved me into the nearby police car while I was walking along the roadside".
"I was just looking for other depositors to go to Henan's Banking and Insurance Regulatory Office together to ask about the case," he said.
Mr Kang said police searched, interrogated, and verbally humiliated him and other seven depositors repeatedly after taking them to Zhengzhou's Linshanzhai police station.
One police officer "slapped the table, very aggressively," Mr Kang said.
"[He demanded that] I put down my phone password on paper with my name and ID number.
"I saw that there was a poster with some rules and regulations for the police on the wall, which clearly require that suspects 'should not be beaten, verbally humiliated or attacked'.
"They all violated them," he said.
One other bank customer, who asked not to be named, said he had more than 7 million yuan ($1.5 million) deposited at Shangcai Huimin Village Bank and Zhecheng Huanghuai Village Bank, which was all his family's savings.
He said he was beaten by police officers from the Linshanzhai police station when he went to Zhengzhou on New Year's Day.
"[They] first beat [me] in the office," he said.
"Then I was dragged to the bathroom by two police officers, who beat and kicked me and attacked my head, face, abdomen, and eyes."
The man also showed the ABC a photo he said was taken afterward showing scars and bruises on his forehead.
The ABC cannot verify the anonymous depositor's account independently, but Mr Kang and one other detained bank customer said they had witnessed the man being beaten while he was interrogated at the police station.
The man said he had "repeatedly asked for an assessment of the injuries" at the police station, but the police "ignored it".
"Of course [I will continue] to defend my rights and defend my deposit with my life."
Mr Kang said it was not his first encounter with the police.
He said he was held by Shanghai police in November for more than seven hours, without explanation.
He believed it was to prevent him from taking part in a protest happening at the time.
Mr Kang also alleged police from Shanghai's Gonghe Xinlu police station beat his mother-in-law when she was asking for information about the case in September.
"By the time I saw my mother-in-law, she was crying," he said.
"Her hands were handcuffed in the same room where the suspect was being held and her feet and wrists were injured.
"I have never seen such a horrible scene … I was stunned.
"It's something I'll never forget for the rest of my life."
The ABC was unable to independently verify Mr Kang's account and has contacted China's Public Security Ministry for a response.
'I don't have the courage to confront them'
Jack Liu, a bank customer living in Tianjin, a city right next to Beijing, said he had also been intimidated by police.
Mr Liu said he has 2.85 million yuan ($600,000) frozen in his transaction deposit account at Kaifeng's Xindongfang Village Bank.
He said he has received multiple phone calls from people claiming to be Tianjin police, warning him "not to speak" in a group disgruntled bank customers set up on WeChat and "not to illegally report the case higher up".
After the calls, Mr Liu decided not to participate in street protests.
"They have told me that if I violate the relevant laws and regulations, the appropriate criminal measures will be taken," he said.
"Because I am facing the state authority, I don't have the courage to confront them.
"I have children, I don't know what kind of things will happen to me in the future."
However, as he still needed to pay a monthly mortgage of 8,000 yuan ($1,707), he reported the case through the National Public Complaints and Proposals Administration in June, hoping that would help.
In response, six months later he received a letter from a court in Yuzhou city, where the bank is located, saying that "the application for filing the case is not approved".
"Everything was very desperate," Mr Liu said.
"There's no silver lining to see. It feels like there's only darkness in front of you."
Some bank customers told the ABC they had lost faith in China's financial institutions due to the problems plaguing the Henan banks.
Dr Minglu Chen, an expert in government and international relations at the University of Sydney, said the struggles customers had in defending their rights showed that "rebuilding confidence" in China's financial system would be difficult.
"But I think the size and scope of China's market suggest that the attitude [of Chinese people] is not quite the same everywhere," she said.
"Even if confidence may have fallen back before, once the economy picks up, I think most people's confidence is still there."
'Trust the party'
Mr Kang shared Mr Liu's feelings of desperation, and has written letters to various government departments, including the CBIRC, China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, Henan's Banking and Insurance Regulatory Office, China's National Public Complaints and Proposals Administration, the People's Bank of China and China's State Council.
The People's Bank of China was the only one to respond, in a letter on November 15, which said it would "continue to cooperate with local governments and regulatory authorities to follow up the case and protect the legal rights and interests of depositors in accordance with the law".
"Trust that the party and the government will protect your legitimate rights and interests to the greatest extent possible, stepping up to trace the stolen goods and reducing the damages," the letter read.
The ABC has contacted the above-mentioned government departments for comment.
Mr Kang said he has always been a law-abiding citizen, but his ordeal with the bank and his recent encounters with police have turned his perspective upside down.
"Our life is extremely difficult and [we are] struggling," he said.
"There is no protection for my rights, my family's safety, my human rights, my life and property."