A 27-year-old pregnant woman surnamed Li from Hanzhong, Shaanxi, who went missing with her cousin near the Thai-Myanmar border after being lured by promises of high pay, has safely returned to China on August 11. Her cousin, however, remains unaccounted for.
Lured by High-Pay Promise from Relative with Fraud Record
According to Chinese media, Li—three months pregnant—lived in Hanzhong’s Nanzheng District with her husband, surnamed Qin. Her cousin is from Chongqing, and the man who lured them, surnamed Zheng, is Li’s brother-in-law from Fujian.
Zheng, who has a prior criminal record for telecom fraud, contacted Li and her cousin with an offer: travel from Shenzhen to Hong Kong to help obtain business certificates in exchange for high payment. Between July 19 and 22, they traveled from Shenzhen to Hong Kong, then to Bangkok, Thailand. No certificates were processed.
On July 22, two drivers took them toward Chiang Mai, claiming to complete the paperwork, but deviated from the route into mountainous areas—possibly to avoid checkpoints.
Disappearance at the Border
Around 11:55 p.m. on July 23, Qin received a location pin from his wife showing she was near Pop Phra District, close to the Thai-Myanmar border. She also sent the message “They grabbed my phone.” When Qin tried calling both Li and her cousin the next day, their phones were off and they were unreachable.
Qin later discovered that Zheng had been in prison for telecom fraud and reported the case to local police.
Abduction and Sale to Scam Compounds
On the night of July 23, Li and her cousin were reportedly robbed of their phones before being taken by traffickers across a river and locked in a large dark room along with other captives. The next day, her cousin was “sold” and taken away, and they were separated.
Li was later sold to a suspected cyber-scam compound in Myanmar. When the buyers discovered she was pregnant—after noticing she took folic acid—they rejected her and sent her back to the traffickers, who warned her not to reveal her pregnancy under threat of death.
She was then sold again to another compound where she was placed in an office environment for a day and met several Mandarin speakers. The company boss, upon learning of her identity from news reports, confined her in a separate room for about 10 days. Eventually, she was moved out of the compound under unclear circumstances—possibly due to pressure from Chinese police and public attention.
Rescue and Return Home
Li was eventually transported by car to Bangkok, from where she flew to Chengdu and then returned to her hometown in Hanzhong. She is now resting at home, traumatized but safe, and will undergo medical checks.
Police have questioned Li and are coordinating with authorities in Fujian to investigate Zheng and his connections. Qin has vowed to hold Zheng accountable.
Li’s father said she may have been tempted by the promise of earning “over 100,000 yuan a month” due to the family’s financial troubles, which include debt, school expenses for twins, and her mother’s illness. He warned others to beware of overseas “high-paying” job scams.
As of now, her cousin’s phone remains off, and his whereabouts are unknown. Police investigations are ongoing.
