A Chinese actor who went missing Friday near the Thai-Myanmar border has been rescued unharmed by Thai police.
Xingxing was reported missing in the Thai border town of Mae Sot on Friday.
He vanished close to an area in Myanmar where Chinese people and ethnic armed groups affiliated with them run online scam centers.
He was found Tuesday after Thai authorities conducted a rescue operation on the Myanmar side, coordinating with ethnic minority groups who control the area, according to Thai media reports.
Sources familiar with the case told The Irrawaddy that Xingxing was rescued at a site related to a scam operation in Shwekokko in Myawaddy Township, which teems with them.
They are run jointly by Chinese gangsters and the Karen Border Guard Force (BGF), a local militia also known as the Karen National Army that now controls Myawaddy and is affiliated with Myanmar’s junta.
BGF leader Saw Chit Thu declined to comment when The Irrawaddy called him on Wednesday.
The actor had reportedly come to Thailand after being told that casting was taking place for a film there. But instead he was taken across the border, where he started training to scam other Chinese people online, the Bangkok Post quoted Police General Thatchai Pitaneelaboot of the Royal Thai Police as saying.
The officer said Xingxing admitted during questioning that he realized he had been deceived after crossing the border but felt powerless to resist. The 31-year old, whose real name is Wang Xing, said he initially came voluntarily, intending to travel to a third country for a movie role.
Since arriving with a floppy fringe at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport last Thursday, he had all his hair shaved off.
He said he arrived in Mae Sot on Friday morning and was picked up by a driver at a Makro store. The driver told police a Karen soldier had ordered him to pick up the actor there.
After crossing into Myanmar through an unofficial border point, Xingxing “was forced to train as a scammer, learning to type fraudulent messages targeting Chinese people. He underwent training for a two or three days but had not yet been trained in voice calls or conversations,” Khasod English reports.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime recently reported that billion-dollar cyber scam operations have been mushrooming in Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. Many are lured by fake advertisements for high-paying jobs and kept in conditions of virtual slavery.
Xingxing’s case sparked widespread public concern in China and became the most trending topic on Chinese social network Weibo.
Thailand is nervous that the case could dent its tourism industry, for which China is a main market. Out of Thailand’s 35.5 million foreign arrivals last year, 6.7 million were from China.
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra launched an urgent bid to contain the fallout.
“We must manage this situation effectively to prevent any impact on our tourism industry,” Khaosod quoted her as saying. Paetongtarn has tasked the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society with monitoring online narratives surrounding the incident.
Pol. Gen. Thatchai quoted Xingxing as saying he wants to return as a tourist in the future, according to Khaosod.
The Irrawaddy reporter Saw Lwin contributed to this report.
