BlockBeats report: On April 23, according to China News Weekly, a 19-year-old first-year female student at a university in Guangdong, referred to as Xiao Yang, was invited by a friend to attend the Songkran Festival in Thailand on April 10. Upon arriving in Bangkok, she was immediately detained and trafficked to a cryptocurrency fraud hub in the Three Pagodas area near the Myanmar border. On April 13, her family made contact with a man claiming to be a "kind brother," who stated he had paid 29,000 U (a cryptocurrency stablecoin) to human traffickers to acquire Xiao Yang. He claimed he was moved by her pleas and demanded a ransom of 30,000 U (approximately RMB 2 million) for her release.
After the family made the transfer as required, the other party repeatedly delayed, citing reasons such as “water festival road closures” and “the campus has been restricting entry and exit recently.” On the afternoon of April 23, after the incident was exposed by domestic media, according to the victim’s father, “the other side has preliminarily agreed to release him but has yet to provide a specific location,” and negotiations regarding his pickup are still ongoing. The Baiyun Branch of the Guangzhou Public Security Bureau opened an investigation for illegal detention on April 15, and Guangdong’s education authorities have also intervened in the case.