A university student from Guangdong has reportedly been abducted after travelling to Thailand for the Songkran festival, before being trafficked into a suspected scam operation in Myanmar, according to mainland Chinese media reports.
The victim, identified as a first-year student under the pseudonym Xiao Yang, was said to have been invited by a friend to travel from Guangzhou to Thailand on April 10. She was due to return on April 15, but was allegedly taken into captivity shortly after arriving in Thailand.
Reports claim that she was first controlled by an unknown man before being moved across the border into Myanmar’s Shan State, where she is suspected to have been sold into a telecommunications fraud compound.
According to family accounts, contact was made with the perpetrators after her disappearance, with the group demanding ransom payment in cryptocurrency. The suspects allegedly claimed they had “purchased” the student and threatened further harm if payment was not made.
Her family reportedly paid over 200,000 yuan (approximately RM130,000) in ransom, but despite the payment, the suspects continued to delay her release, citing various excuses including operational restrictions within the compound.
Although the student is still able to communicate intermittently with her family, her exact condition and safety remain unclear. The case has since been reported to Chinese authorities, who have launched an official investigation.
The incident has once again raised concerns over cross-border human trafficking linked to scam syndicates operating in the Myanmar–Thailand border region, despite ongoing crackdowns on such criminal networks.
