What started as a routine trip to Bangkok to collect a debt quickly turned into a nightmare for Chinese national Liu Xiuhong. Right after landing in the Thai capital, he was picked up by a gang and driven straight to the Thai-Myanmar border.
Held at gunpoint, his phone confiscated, blindfolded, and gagged, Liu was forced across the border river into Myanmar and shuttled between several locations.
Back home, his family panicked when he suddenly went off the grid. His sister rushed to Thailand to look for him, while police in Mianzhu, Sichuan, teamed up with Thailand’s Central Investigation Bureau to open an investigation.
Inside Myanmar, Liu’s age actually worked against his captors at first—nobody wanted to buy an older recruit. In the end, he was tossed into a deal as a "buy one, get one free" package alongside another victim.
Once inside the scam compound, he was ordered to memorize fraud scripts targeting divorced and older women. Every time he refused to cooperate, he was beaten.
What ended up saving him was his background in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Liu began treating injuries, mixing remedies, and even tending to the health of the compound bosses. His medical skills spared him from further beatings and earned him occasional, brief trips outside under guard.
By early August, his family finally got confirmation that he was still alive. After weeks of negotiation and paying off the captors, they managed to secure his freedom.
On August 26, Liu was brought back across the border at the Mae Sot checkpoint in Thailand, putting an end to 79 terrifying days off the grid.
He flew back home to Chengdu on September 4, where he has been giving statements to local police. Chinese and Thai authorities are continuing their joint investigation into the syndicate behind the kidnapping.
