Last month, Chinese influencer, Umi, who is in her 20’s, was sharing via livestream how she was tricked into a cyber scam operation in Cambodia. However, her livestream was suddenly cut off, and her account was terminated.
With 24,000 followers across her social platforms in China, Umi had become viral after a netizen spotted her with an injured leg close to a hotel in Cambodia earlier this year, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported. Her identity was later confirmed after passport details surfaced online.
The photos showed her completely exhausted and dirty, while holding up a CAT scan, presumably of her leg injury.
Upon finding her, the Chinese embassy in Cambodia quickly transferred her to a hospital for treatment. From there, her mother rushed to return Umi back to China.
Back home, Umi tested positive for drugs, and it was suggested that her leg injury was likely due to “nerve compression after a prolonged period of immobility,” SCMP wrote.
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Umi’s father, surnamed Wu, told local outlet Jimu News that the family assumed Umi was working in Zhejiang province. When requests for money came time and time again, they sent her over 800,000 Chinese yuan ($12,000).
According to the Strait Times, citing a livestream Umi made in early December last year, Umi’s boyfriend invited her to join him in Cambodia.
Livestream interrupted
Slowly after her return, Umi went back to livestreaming and interacting with social media.
Finally, on April 3, she decided to share her harrowing experience in Cambodia online, through a live-stream titled “The Turbulent Story of Cambodia.”
With her voice shaken and “in fits,” Umi told her viewers how a trusted acquaintance lured her to Cambodia with a lucrative job offer, only to seize her passport and trap her upon arrival. Umi then said she was forced into “keyboard work,” a term mainly used to refer to telecom fraud.
“I was deceived by that woman, and she still hasn’t been caught,” she told her viewers.
Though details were scarce, Umi continued to add she “really regretted” going to Cambodia.
However, halfway through the stream, it was cut off, believed to be because of the sensitivity of the issue, though it has not been verified by authorities.
Days after her stream, Umi’s social media account was banned, prompting concerns surrounding Chinese youths being scammed in Southeast Asia.
“I hope Umi can one day emerge from this dark chapter. Her story is a warning to everyone: there is no easy money,” one online observer said.
China’s response to scam operations
China continues to combat scam operations throughout Southeast Asia, and is reportedly cooperating with the Cambodian government to root out and prosecute members of these scam networks.
“Cross-border gambling and fraud endanger the lives and property of the people and must be resolutely cracked down on and completely eradicated,” Beijing’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet on April 22.
Beijing has also expressed its commitment to support Cambodia in its efforts to clamp down on these operations and crimes.
Scam operations have unfortunately bled out into smaller parts of the region as attacks continue.