It was reported that a 24-year-old Chinese livestream shopping hostess was held for ransom in Myanmar, the family said, in what appears to be the most recent case of a youngster kidnapped and taken to one of the scam camps run by criminal organizations in Southeast Asia.
Wang Ran, the woman in question, is 24 years old and comes from Harbin, the capital of China’s easternmost province of Heilongjiang. She previously resided in Nanjing. As the South China Morning Post stated, her family claims that she was held hostage and that the ransom is 600,000 yuan or $90,000, and that she was initially lured to Thailand by an acquaintance on the Internet to take a work-related trip. Later, the family told her story to Chinese state media, reporting that Wang herself told a friend that she was held hostage against her will in Myanmar.
According to Dexerto, the captors gave Wang until September 20 to come up with the money and threatened her that otherwise, she would be sold to a club located in the camp.
Her relatives claimed they were able to speak with Wang via video. The Tab reports that she appeared confused and disoriented while sitting in an empty room and could not reveal where she was detained. The Tab, citing the World Journal, also reports that in the second phone call, Wang’s father saw a dilapidated bunk bed and a window seemingly covered with black plastic foil.
The kidnapping pressure didn’t ease even after Wang became a public figure. Once the family contacted journalists, the abductors contacted her family, threatening them not to go to the media. One of those messages reportedly stated that “You have to raise the money for me, or I will sell her.” Whether the deadline was extended is yet to be seen.
On September 21, Wang’s father filed a report at a Nanjing police station, and staff confirmed to The Beijing News that the family had contacted the authorities and that fraud prevention officers would contact them. Wang’s whereabouts and whether any ransom was raised remain unknown.
The investigation into Wang Ran’s kidnapping case goes on.
