The rescue of a Chinese actor sheds light on fraud centers

A young Chinese actor went missing for two days in Thailand when his girlfriend decided to turn to the Internet for help.

“We have no choice but to borrow the power of the Internet to amplify our voices,” Wang Sina, a girl, wrote on the Chinese social network Weibo on January 5.

The plea went viral after being shared by some of China’s biggest celebrities, including singer Lei Zhang and actor Qin Lan.

Wang, 31, has attracted the attention of the country – as well as his government.

On January 7, Wang was rescued from a fraud center across the border in Myanmar – the news met with a wave of relief.

But the quick but mysterious rescue has also led to questions about the fate of those trapped in the fraud centers. The case is a grim reminder of the thriving criminal business that continues to prey on hundreds of thousands of people, forcing them to commit cybercrimes.

Families of Chinese nationals who may be held in one of these complexes have started a petition calling on the government to help them. The petition document is being distributed online so that anyone who wants to can fill out their missing person’s files. The number of cases has already risen to more than 600 from the original 174 and continues to rise.

Wang told police that about 50 Chinese nationals were being held at the same location as him.

“We are desperate to know if the rest of the Chinese citizens (who were) with him were rescued,” said one of the most popular comments on Weibo.

“Other people’s lives are also lives.”

Wang went missing on January 3 in the Thai border town of Mae Sot, which has become a hub for human trafficking in Myanmar.

He flew to Bangkok for an acting job offered to him on WeChat. The man claimed to represent a major Thai entertainment company, according to Thai police.

The actor later told reporters that he was filming in Thailand around 2018 and had no idea it was any different. But he was picked up in a car and taken to Myanmar, where his head was shaved and he was made to undergo training in how to trick people into making phone calls.

His girlfriend wrote on Weibo that she and his brother had tried to track him down and get the police involved, but “there were few results”: the Chinese police had yet to register a case, and the embassy in Thailand simply advised Wang’s family to contact the police in Mae Sot.

But as Wang’s whereabouts became more widely discussed on Chinese social media, the authorities began to act. The case was finally registered and the embassy told the media that it was taking the case very seriously.

The next day, Thai and Chinese officials announced that Wang had been rescued.

His first public appearance was alongside Thai police, but he said little, leaving officials to explain what happened.

There are still few details of the rescue itself. Officials have not even revealed which scam center he was in, as conflicting versions of the story are circulating.

One reason could be that withholding more information was part of the deal that led to his release, according to a source who has previously rescued people from fraud centers, who did not want to be named.

He told the BBC that these fraud centers are trying to avoid attention. This meant that releasing Wan was a better option than risking the entire operation due to the attention his disappearance would attract.

Beijing also wanted to stop discussing the Wang case. She wants her citizens to believe that she has done enough and that the fraud centers along her border are no longer a problem.

A joint operation between China and ethnic insurgent groups as early as 2023 did attempt to shut down fraud centers in Myanmar’s Shan State.

But those working on the ground – NGOs and independent rescuers – tell the BBC that fraud is still on the rise and construction is spreading to even more remote regions.

Today, the area along the border with Thailand is a major hub for international fraud in Myanmar, which enjoys partnerships with various armed groups vying for power.

New fraudulent compounds have been built south of the town of Myawaddy, near the border with Thailand, where the worst cases of forced labor and other abuses are now being reported.

This has put a lot of pressure on Thailand, whose economy is heavily dependent on tourism, especially from China.

Wang’s case has left some Chinese wondering how safe it is to travel to Thailand. “It feels like fewer people will travel to Southeast Asia, including Thailand, after this Wang Xing incident,” said a popular post on Weibo.

His rescue may well be a success for Thai officials and a victory for Beijing, but it did not end the debate or stop the focus on the fraudulent connections.

On Thursday, lines from his recent interview were trending on Weibo: “Actor Wang Xin claims he couldn’t eat much food and didn’t have time to go to the toilet in Myanmar.”

His brief disappearance only showed how widespread the danger had become: since then, other members of the Chinese film industry have shared their own accounts of being duped by scammers offering them jobs in Thailand.

Thai police are reportedly now investigating the case of another Chinese model who disappeared at the Thailand-Myanmar border after being promised a job in Thailand.

The China Federation of Radio and Television Association said in a statement on Tuesday that “many actors” had gone abroad on false promises to make films and had suffered “serious damage to their personal and financial security” as a result.

“We are very concerned about this,” the statement said.

“Please save (Wang) from danger and bring the story of ‘No More Bets’ to life,” Wang’s girlfriend urged in her Weibo post, a reference to the rescue of the 2023 film’s main characters after being trafficked into fraud centers.

Wang – like those in the film – is among the lucky minority.

Hundreds of thousands of victims from China, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore are stuck in vast frauds with little hope of escape.

But ahead of the Lunar New Year, when hordes of Chinese tourists are expected to visit Thailand, the Thai government is keen to stress that the country is a safe place. Thai police also insist that Thais were not involved in Wang’s trade.

Wang, who was just released from the ordeal, is not worried about returning to Thailand, a police officer told reporters on Wednesday.

In fact, he added, Wang had promised to return.