Wang Xing thought he was travelling to a casting call with film producers in Thailand.
The 22-year-old Chinese actor, also known by his stage name Xing Xing, had been communicating on WeChat with people he believed were Chinese employees of a major Thai entertainment firm, according to Thai police. One of them greeted him at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport and led him through security, before telling him that the plan – to stay at a nearby hotel – had changed. Instead they drove 500km to Mae Sot in western Thailand.
That was when Wang’s girlfriend, Jia Jia, lost contact with him.
Mae Sot is on the Thai border with Myanmar, just across from the Burmese town Myawaddy, a notorious hub for criminal compounds where people are held against their will and forced to conduct telecom or online scams.
Such scam operations have proliferated across south-east Asia in recent years, especially in Myanmar. The country was plunged into chaos, and spiralling conflict, after the 2021 military coup, and has become a magnet for criminal syndicates.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked into the region from across the world – including from parts of Africa, South America and Asia – often lured by the promise of a well-paying job. Instead they find themselves trapped and forced into criminality. Those who refuse to carry out fraud activities, or fail to meet their targets, often face torture. The only way to leave is usually to pay an unaffordable ransom. Many of these compounds are based in border areas such as Myawaddy.
One of China’s anti-fraud agencies, warning citizens of the dangers of Myawaddy, described the town as “terrifying”.
The targeting of Wang and others in the entertainment industry has once again thrust such criminal operations into the spotlight.
Jian Kunyi, deputy dean of the School of Law and Political Science at Yunnan University of Finance and Economics, told the Global Times the networks appeared to be broadening to target celebrities and intellectuals for greater profit. The China Federation of Radio and Television Association warned members to be wary of fake job offers, saying “many” had been tricked “resulting in significant damage to their personal and financial safety”.
‘The environment was very dangerous’
Jia Jia first raised the alert in a social media post saying Wang had gone missing. The post said that after Wang was told they weren’t staying in Bangkok, he shared his location with her and they kept texting on WeChat until they lost contact near the border. Jia Jia contacted the Shanghai police and Chinese consular offices in Thailand, before travelling to Thailand herself. Her posts were shared by Chinese celebrities, and a related hashtag saw more than half a billion engagements on Weibo.
On Tuesday last week, it was announced that Wang had been found, more than a month after his abduction. Photos showed the actor with a shaved head, seated with Thai police officials.
In a video filmed on his flight home, published by Chinese media, Wang said he’d been to Thailand in 2018 for work and therefore thought this latest invitation was a normal shoot. He described being sent across the border into Myanmar, and pushed into a car by armed men. He was taken to a building where at least 50 others were also being held, he said, and they were all forced to have their heads shaved and undergo training for working scams.
“The environment was very dangerous. I can’t sleep, I don’t have time just to pee,” he said in the video.
No arrests have been announced in relation to Wang’s disappearance. Thai and Chinese officials are reportedly working together to coordinate searches for other missing citizens.
In recent years there have been major crackdowns across south-east Asia, arresting tens of thousands of members of the international syndicates that have underworld connections in Thailand, Myanmar, China, Cambodia, the Philippines and Taiwan.
But the industry and the kidnappings that supply its workforce continue.
In the days before Wang’s return, other Chinese actors spoke on social media about their own similar experiences. The actor Xu Dajiu said he had been tricked into flying to Thailand after being offered a supposed role in a drama being filmed in the country, but fled before he could be taken.
On Thursday last week, reports emerged of two other Chinese nationals – male model Yang Zeqi, and 21-year-old woman Wu Jiaqi – who had gone missing in similar circumstances. Yang flew to Bangkok on 20 December for a purported film audition, but was also driven to the border. In his last known contact, Yang told his mother in a video call he was safe, but had visible injuries to his eyes, according to Chinese media. The whereabouts and welfare of Wu are unknown. Thai police are investigating both cases.
‘Thailand has to wake up and try to do something’
For Thailand, Wang’s case has brought unwelcome publicity. Amid the extensive media coverage, almost half a million posts on the social media app Xiaohongshu in the past week asked “how do I cancel my Thailand holiday?” . This week, Hong Kong pop star Eason Chan cancelled his Thailand shows scheduled for February, citing safety fears for crew and fans in Thailand following Wang’s ordeal.
In China’s state mouthpiece, China Daily, an op-ed said the crimes “could undermine the confidence of Chinese tourists in neighbouring countries”.
Thai officials are now scrambling to reassure their biggest tourism market. Wang’s disappearance occurred just before the lunar new year, a peak holiday season, when Thailand expects to receive as many as 30,000 arrivals a day from China.
Pattaraanong Na Chiangmai, from the Tourism Authority of Thailand, told the Bangkok Post it was monitoring reaction to the case, with five offices in China following news coverage and sentiment on social media.
Concerns among Chinese tourists about travelling to Thailand are not new. In 2023, the Chinese thriller No More Bets became a box office hit. It tells the story of two Chinese citizens who are trafficked and forced to work in a south-east Asia scam compound.
Thailand has been trying to shake off such negative publicity.
Shortly after his return to Thailand, Wang appeared on Thai TV alongside police. He thanked Thai authorities for “the chance to go back to my own country”. On camera, the officer then asked him to tell the reporters, in Chinese, that Thailand was safe and he would come back.
The actors and models are high-profile victims, but they are among hundreds of thousands of others trafficked across the region, many still missing.
Estimates of the number of compounds in Myawaddy vary. Rangsiman Rome, deputy leader of the Thai opposition People’s party, and chair of the house committee on national security, told the Guardian he had been informed there were now as many as 40 scam compounds in the town. “We’re talking about a scam state, industrial [scale] scamming,” he said. “It’s a threat to Thailand and the international community.”
“Thailand has to wake up and try to do something. I don’t want Thailand to be the agent of the scam,” he said, adding that the country’s image as a safe and welcoming tourist destination was also at stake.
“It will destroy our tourism, and without tourism Thailand will have a very serious economic crisis.”
It’s not clear how Wang’s release was secured. The factories often enjoy protection from corrupt local officials and armed groups. Previous reporting by the Guardian suggests that some hostages are able to escape if they or their families can exert pressure on local authorities or pay off the gangs who prefer to let someone go rather than draw too much attention to their operations.
For the families of people still missing, Wang’s return showed how authorities can do more to help victims. On Chinese social media a joint plea for help from the families of 174 people believed missing in Myanmar, gained widespread attention online, while in Hong Kong a former politician helping victims’ families urged the government to reveal how they got Wang home.
Returning to China, Wang and Jia Jia thanked the people who had helped spread the word about his plight, and authorities and consular staff in the region.
“I am just an ordinary person who gets afraid and worried,” Wang said. “But just when I was about to give up completely, it was you who gave me hope, let me choose to believe a little more, persist a little longer, and helped me to recover.”
