Recently, Ms. Ding from Fengjie County, Chongqing, posted a help request on Tencent Hot Questions, claiming that her younger brother was suspected of being involved in a scam in Southeast Asia. The family received photos of him kneeling on the ground with handcuffs, demanding a ransom of 200,000 yuan within 48 hours. Otherwise, they threatened to sell him to another location or even chop off one of his arms.
The young man, named Wang Zuxiao, is 17 years old this year. According to a report by Hua Shang Bao Da Feng News, Wang Zuxiao is the half-brother of Ms. Ding. Two years ago, Wang Zuxiao dropped out of school and worked as a waiter in a restaurant in Fengjie County.
On the evening of November 26, Ms. Ding received a call from her stepfather saying that her brother had gone missing. On November 27, she checked her brother’s call records with his ID card and found that on November 12, he received multiple calls from Fangchenggang, Guangxi. However, when she tried calling back, all the numbers were invalid.
Subsequently, through her brother’s social media account, Ms. Ding traced a contact person named “Rain General” with an ID indicating Cambodia. She suspected that her brother might have been tricked into going to Cambodia by this person. She sent private messages to “Rain General” on social media, which were read but not replied to. On November 28, “Rain General” changed his profile picture to her brother’s photo, renamed himself Northern, and chatted with her in her brother’s tone, without revealing his location.
Later on, Ms. Ding received a message forwarded by her brother’s friend via WeChat, which seemed to be a plea for help sent by her brother around November 20. The message mentioned that he was smuggled from Fangchenggang to Osma, Cambodia about a week ago and had all his identification documents confiscated. In the message, he expressed fear and pleaded to be helped returning home. Ms. Ding tried to contact her brother’s friend, but received no response.
Shortly after, Ms. Ding received a video of her brother typing on a keyboard and a photo of her brother handcuffed and kneeling on the ground from “Northern,” threatening her to prepare 200,000 yuan within 48 hours, or they would sell her brother elsewhere.
Around 1 a.m. on November 29, “Northern” sent more photos to her, continuing to demand the ransom of 200,000 yuan. Ms. Ding mentioned that her brother’s face was so swollen in the photos that he was unrecognizable, and the other person threatened to “chop off my brother’s arm” if she provoked him.
Reportedly, the Fengjie police have already started investigating the case. The investigation revealed that Wang Zuxiao took a high-speed train from Fengjie County to Chongqing’s main city around 6 p.m. on November 12, then transferred to Fangchenggang in Guangxi around 10 p.m. on the same night, and disappeared afterwards.
Ms. Ding stated that their family’s financial situation is not good, and the ransom of 200,000 yuan is a huge amount for them. She hopes to use the power of the internet to bring her brother home soon.