A 33-year-old beauty therapist was jailed for four years on 27 October after pleading guilty to one count of fraud over a deception that left two women captive at a scam compound in Myanmar.
The sentencing judge said the case involved human trafficking and the women’s personal safety and liberty. She distinguished it from ordinary online fraud and from trafficking for prostitution, describing the women’s confinement as extremely frightening.
The court heard that the women, then aged 24 and 21, had been invited on free trips to Canada and Japan in late November 2024. On 27 December, the defendant told them to fly to Thailand that night and return the next evening, saying they would be paid to carry Thai baht. One woman initially refused the cash-carrying arrangement, but the defendant and the other woman persuaded her to continue participating. One was unemployed; the other worked as a part-time model.
The defendant had said she would travel with them, but withdrew before they boarded. After the women arrived in Bangkok, they were picked up and later woke in a vehicle heading towards Chiang Mai. Five men carrying sticks and knives took their belongings, passports and phones. The women were then taken by boat across a river and handed to six uniformed men with guns. After changing vehicles several times, they were told they had been sold to KK Park in Myanmar.
The women were told they had to make US$500,000 in scam proceeds or pay that amount to leave. They were taught to target wealthy overseas Chinese. In January 2025, the compound’s boss said they could leave for US$28,000. One woman’s family paid 1.1 million Thai baht, about HK$258,000, and RMB100,000; the other family paid about HK$212,000. The women retrieved their belongings on 8 January and returned to Hong Kong on 11 January.