Thai police say Chinese actor was trafficked to Myanmar to work in a scam operation

BANGKOK (AP) — A Chinese actor who disappeared after traveling to Thailand and was found near the border of Myanmar in an area where online scam networks operate was a victim of human trafficking, Thai police said Wednesday.

Chinese state-owned newspaper The Global Times reported Monday that the family of Wang Xing requested help from the Chinese Embassy in Thailand after the actor went missing at the Thailand-Myanmar border.

Authorities found Wang on Tuesday in Myanmar and brought him to Thailand for questioning, Thai police said. Photos and videos showed Wang sitting with the police in the Thai border town of Mae Sot with his head shaved.

Wang told the police that he was lured by a promise of a job casting by a major Thai entertainment company, but instead was taken across the border into Myanmar, where police believe he was put to work in a call scam operation targeting Chinese people, said Senior Inspector General Thatchai Pitaneelaboot.

The area is known as a haven for criminal syndicates who have forced hundreds of thousands of people in Southeast Asia into participating in online scams including false romantic ploys, bogus investment pitches and illegal gambling schemes. Many of the victims are trapped in virtual slavery. There also are allegations of drug trafficking.

An initial review of chat logs on Wang's phone confirmed his story, Thatchai told the Thai PBS TV.

He said Wang told police there were about 50 other Chinese at the same location. Like him, all had their heads shaved, he told police. He said he was too scared to resist or try to escape.

Criminal activity has flourished in border areas of military-ruled Myanmar, where fighting has pitted armed ethnic groups against the army for decades. Chinese authorities have said they had cracked down on criminal syndicates in joint operations with neighboring countries that led to thousands of people being returned to China, but those campaigns did not include arrests of ring leaders in Myanmar.

Chinese investors operate casino complexes in what amounts to autonomous development zones in cooperation with Myanmar's Border Guard Force, a militia belonging to the ethnic Karen minority.

Wang’s disappearance received attention after an internet user who claimed to be his girlfriend posted about it on Chinese social media, according to The Global Times. Wang has featured in popular Chinese TV dramas.

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra on Tuesday said the government was working as best it could to mitigate any impact the case might have on the reputation of Thailand as a safe tourist destination.