Recently, Harbin female anchor Wang Ran is suspected to have been deceived into traveling to Thailand and then kidnapped to Myanmar. Her family was demanded 600,000 yuan (Chinese currency, same below) as ransom and threatened that if the ransom of 600,000 yuan was not paid in full, she would be sold directly to a telecommunication fraud park.
According to reports from mainland China’s “New Beijing News” and others, Wang Ran, 24 years old this year, is from Harbin, Heilongjiang, and works as a live-streaming e-commerce anchor in Nanjing, Jiangsu.
Wang Ran’s cousin reflected on September 20th that on September 12th, Wang Ran went to Bangkok, Thailand alone for travel but was suspected to have been kidnapped to Myanmar. The next day, her family received threatening phone calls from the kidnappers demanding 600,000 yuan ransom.
During a video call, the family saw Wang Ran in a confused state, with an old bunk bed next to her. The room looked like a rural workshop, extremely simple and crude, with the windows sealed shut with black plastic sheeting, making it impossible to see outside.
The kidnappers also sent messages threatening that if the ransom was not prepared by September 20th, “your child will be taken elsewhere by me, or sold to the park.”
The family asked friends to investigate and confirmed that Wang Ran had been transferred to a telecommunication fraud park in Myanmar.
Wang Ran’s father has filed a report in Nanjing.
In recent years, there have been multiple cases in mainland China where people have been lured to Thailand under the pretext of tourism or high-paying jobs, only to be abducted to telecommunication fraud parks in Myanmar.
Netizens expressed their views, “This scam is just one wave after another.” “There are still people promoting travel to Myanmar, these people are criminals.” “When meeting people online who invite you for overseas travel, extra precautions must be taken, scams often start this way.” “When traveling abroad, try to choose legitimate channels for pick-up and drop-off vehicles, and do not get into cars with strangers.”
“Why can’t people still refrain from traveling to Southeast Asia, why are so many people not afraid of death? Also, why isn’t our government constantly reminding citizens of safety precautions?” A netizen replied, “You don’t even know, it’s these people doing it.” “It’s highly probable that it’s one’s own people deceiving one’s own people.”