Following veteran getai singer and livestream host Wang Lei’s cash reward for the safe return of 22-year-old Malaysian Chia Min Yong, the woman is now reported to have been detained in Myanmar by her captors.
Chia has been missing for several weeks, after she allegedly sent a lengthy message to her mother on April 5 regarding her struggles with her insurance job. Chia said then that she began a high-paying job “rather far” from home. She became uncontactable since that day; her family suspected she had fallen victim to a foreign job scam.
Wanting to help locate Chia through his large follower base, Wang appealed for information on her whereabouts in a livestream video.
He also urged Chia to return home soon and even offered her a job in Singapore or Malaysia to help her with her financial difficulties.
The 60-year-old entertainer initially offered a reward of RM10,000 (S$3,223) to anyone who had information on Chia’s whereabouts. He increased this to RM50,000 after learning that Chia’s father’s boss had offered RM100,000 for the same cause.
He also posted messages urging Chia’s captor or captors to release her.
On Apr 17, Wang revealed that he was increasing the reward to RM400,000 (S$128,000).
Penang Front Party’s president Patrick Ooi Khar Giap said in a Nanyang Siang Pau report on Apr 27 that he had received information on Chia.
According to a source of his in Myanmar, Chia was brought from Thailand to Myanmar after being promised a job with a salary of RM10,000 to RM20,000 (S$3,170 to S$6,340).
She was eventually detained in Myanmar by illegal syndicates who confined her instead of putting her to work as she was a “cash cow” that could be exchanged for money, following the cash rewards people were offering, said Ooi.
Ooi also published a video of his claims on Facebook on April 25, adding that a price for Chia’s release was already given to her family, but the high cash reward has further complicated the situation.
Ooi, who did not mention Wang directly, said that rescuing people from similar situations requires money but not such large amounts.
He said that the price to release a person was around RM15,000 (S$4,760), an increase from RM7,000 to RM8,000 in the past.
Ooi also urged others who have found themselves or know of someone who had fallen victim to a similar job scam to reach out to him with information and photographs to help gauge if Chia is currently detained in the same area within the Golden Triangle, or the borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar. /TISG