Man Lured by Fake Job Ad Reportedly Kidnapped And Held For Months as a ‘Blood Slave’

Man Lured by Fake Job Ad Reportedly Kidnapped And Held For Months as a 'Blood Slave'
Man Lured by Fake Job Ad Reportedly Kidnapped And Held For Months as a 'Blood Slave'

After responding to an online job ad, a Chinese man was “coerced and smuggled” into Cambodia and used as a “blood slave,” according to the Chinese Embassy in Cambodia, which said it was working with local police on the case.

The man, identified only by his surname Li, had been brought to China Town in the Cambodian city of Sihanoukville to work for an online scam operation, according to the notice. He was allegedly passed between three organizations, the last of which reportedly kept him in a dark room and withdrew his blood “in large doses” until Li was in a “life-threatening situation.”

Li’s story has shocked Chinese citizens and brought attention to the long-standing issue of criminal gangs in Southeast Asia forcing people to engage in cybercrime.

58.com Inc., which owns the hiring website where Li responded to the ad, is also being chastised for its lack of foresight of hiring scams on its forum.

In May of 2021, Li, who had previously worked as a security guard in Beijing, responded to an ad for a nightclub security officer, according to Beijing Youth Daily. When he went to the interview, he was kidnapped.

58.com Inc. said in a statement to Sixth Tone that it has “deep sympathy” for what happened to Li and that it will cooperate with authorities. The company went on to say that it was improving its job ad verification and that an internal search didn’t turn up the recruitment position Li mentioned.

According to domestic media reports, Li was eventually able to flee with the help of someone in the heavily guarded compound where he was being held. He was significantly weakened as a result of the ordeal. Chen Baorong, a businessman in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh and a member of a local volunteer network, told Sixth Tone that the network learned about Li’s situation on the night of Feb. 10 and sent him to Phnom Penh’s Bethune Cambodia China First Hospital.

On Feb. 11, when hospital dean Zhu Minxue saw Li, he was struck by his condition: Li was unable to move and his entire body was enlarged. “He was in desperate need of blood.”  He could have died in two or three days if he hadn’t received treatment right away,” Zhu told Sixth Tone on Thursday.

Cambodian volunteers have raised funds to assist Li with his medical expenses. Meanwhile, according to a notice issued by the Chinese Embassy in Cambodia on Wednesday, police forces from both countries are now investigating the case.

Source: Sixth Tone

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