Chinese police investigating 5 missing teens issue further warnings about telecoms crime

South China Morning Post

17-07-2025

Chinese police are investigating at least five cases of teenagers who have gone missing recently and are suspected of being caught up in
scam centres , including some who have lost contact with their families after travelling to
Myanmar
Police in Hefei, the capital of Anhui province in central China, issued a notice on Wednesday, confirming the disappearance of an 18-year-old high school student who had travelled to a city in Yunnan province, in southwestern China, at the border with Myanmar.
According to his parents, the student surnamed Hu left school to look for a job in Hefei in April. But in late June his mother could not find him at his workplace.
03:32
'We're not scammers': China, Thailand join forces to free thousands from Myanmar scam hubs
'We're not scammers': China, Thailand join forces to free thousands from Myanmar scam hubs
He was reported last seen near a restaurant in Jinghong, Yunnan, after coming out of Xishuangbanna airport on June 5, having flown from Nanjing. Jinghong police said they had no further information about him.
Hu's disappearance is not an isolated case. In the past month, many teenagers aged 18 or 19 who set out to travel or work during the summer holiday reportedly travelled to Yunnan without their families' knowledge, and then lost contact in the border area.
According to Elephant News, an official news outlet in Henan province, a mother in Hubei urgently sought help on Tuesday, saying that her high school student son and two of his classmates had lost contact after going to Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture on June 24, and that they were suspected to be in Myanmar, where telecoms-related crime is rampant.
Hubei police confirmed the case, saying that the three students had arrived in Xishuangbanna prefecture on June 25 and lost contact with their families and friends two days after their arrival. Their last message was sent from abroad, police said.
The mother in Hubei said her son had previously met a 'buddy' on the internet who had invited the three to go to Yunnan with him, saying he was 'delivering rhino horns'.