A Chinese influencer who left for Cambodia saying she would go meet her boyfriend and then lost contact has been arrested on suspicion of joining a criminal ring that engaged in illegal human trafficking.
According to the Cambodia China Times on the 19th (local time), local police arrested 26-year-old Chinese woman Zhang Mou-cheng on suspicion of joining an online fraud ring involved in illegal human trafficking.
The court issued an arrest warrant for Zhang Mou-cheng on the 15th, and Zhang is currently being held at Prey Sar Prison in Phnom Penh.
According to local investigators, Zhang is suspected of taking part in multiple online fraud cases from October to November and being involved in cross-border human trafficking crimes.
An anonymous source said there are indications that part of the criminal revenue flowed into an account in Zhang's name.
Zhang is a popular influencer on Chinese social media (SNS) who goes by the name "Orange Sisters" and has more than 130,000 followers.
Early this month, Zhang left for Cambodia, saying she would meet her boyfriend, and was scheduled to return on the 13th. Then, starting the afternoon of the 12th, her phone was switched off and contact was cut off. The boyfriend's devices also all powered down at the same time.
Afterward, rumors spread online that Zhang had been deceived by her boyfriend and sold to a Cambodian fraud ring for 1.75 million yuan (about 361.32 million won).
Her family, viewing Zhang as missing, sought help from the Chinese Embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Sihanoukville, Cambodia, is known for a concentration of criminal rings involved in human trafficking and illegal telecom fraud, and for frequent violent crimes targeting foreigners. In Aug., a Korean college student, a person surnamed Park, was also found dead.