After Wang Xing returned to his country safely, hope was rekindled in the eyes of an elderly veteran.
Last December, his son Yang Zeqi went to Bangkok and has been missing ever since.
Yang Zeqi, a model, disappeared for the same reason as Wang Xing; both were recruited through domestic actors' groups to participate in filming in Thailand.
The person who posted this "cannibalistic" recruitment notice is the same individual—Yan Shiliu.
Who is this Yan Shiliu, and how could he deceive so many people in the industry?
According to insiders: Yan Shiliu's real name is Yan Wenlei, and he is from Shuangdian Town, Donghai County, Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province.
His parents are farmers.
Due to poverty at home, Yan Wenlei came to Hengdian at an early age to make a living, starting from minor roles to working behind the scenes.
Yan Wenlei has worked as a martial arts instructor, sound engineer, actor coordinator, and assistant director, so he is very familiar with the filming process.
In Hengdian, many minor actors have to call him "brother."
Yan Wenlei, who holds resources of actors and crews, also started an entertainment company, but soon faced setbacks due to the pandemic, which brought him back to square one overnight.
Rumors say that Yan Wenlei, in an attempt to make big money, was once deceived by a close friend to go to Northern Myanmar, and since then, he has disappeared.
Until September 2018, Yan Wenlei suddenly posted a cryptic poem on social media, which netizens interpreted as "I want to go back."
Perhaps initially, Yan Wenlei was just a victim longing to be rescued.
But the dragon-slaying youth was eventually brainwashed by a scam group into becoming the dragon himself.
He utilized Hengdian's resources to continuously post recruitment information in various actors' groups, boasting about his cooperation with the Thai entertainment company GMM Grammy to shoot a drama, needing a large number of actors.
The actors who usually "fall for it" are those who rely on their own auditions to get roles, for whom every opportunity is precious.
However, what most let their guard down was Yan Shiliu's ability to use relatively professional terminology, making the victims relax their vigilance, mistaking it for a legitimate crew recruitment.
But Wang Xing was not the first victim.
It is said that the first victims were Xu Dajiu and four other actors.
In December last year, Xu Dajiu and the others came to Thailand through recruitment information in actors' groups.
Upon arrival, a "contact person" demanded their passports, which made them feel uneasy, so they refused to hand them over.
This immediately angered the "contact person," who left them and walked away.
Strangers in a strange land, they could only take a taxi to the hotel designated by the crew for the first night, only to find out that the crew had booked just one room.
Moreover, according to the information sent by the crew, the place they were supposed to go the next day was Amin, a 4-5 hour drive from Bangkok. At this point, Xu Dajiu and the others were sure they had been scammed.
So, they booked tickets to return home the next day.
But early the next morning, the "crew's" car came to pick them up, accompanied by two armed Filipinos.
Xu Dajiu, who was particularly bold, even negotiated with the "crew members," demanding they transfer 1500 yuan as a deposit before he would get in the car.
After getting his travel expenses back, he ran away without looking back.
Perhaps because of this incident, after deceiving Wang Xing to Thailand, he was directly pushed into a vehicle by armed personnel and disappeared at the Thai-Myanmar border.
Wang Xing recalled:
"During the few hours in the car, I was under high pressure, unable to sleep, eat well, or even have time to urinate."
From being kidnapped to returning home, it only took 5 days, and Wang Xing was already emaciated, completely drained of energy, and some netizens even speculated that it wasn't him.
It's evident that the scam area is akin to hell.
The Wang Xing incident attracted high attention both domestically and internationally, and Yan Wenlei even claimed that his WeChat had been hacked for a month.
But such an explanation obviously cannot cover up his crimes.
Insiders revealed that middlemen like Yan Shiliu could earn a commission of 60,000 yuan for each person they successfully introduced.
This quick way of making money also made him increasingly crazed.
However, although Yan Shiliu's scams are quite professional, there are actors who can break the scheme through careful observation.
Actor Zhang Xinmiao recalled:
"When I said I didn't have a passport but could apply for one, he readily agreed and even assigned me a role, which felt rather hasty.
I really sensed something was wrong when he kept urging me to get a passport, and later asked me to find friends who had passports. The replies seemed like they were copied and pasted, and the shooting times also kept changing."
Netizens say that they were scammed because of "greed," wanting to make big money.
But no victim is perfect; they just happened to fall into a well-set trap.
According to village officials, Wenlei had returned to the country last year and opened a restaurant for his parents and children, but due to poor management, the restaurant soon closed down.
Later, he even deceived young people in the village to work in Thailand, claiming they could earn twenty to thirty thousand yuan a month.
How could someone who doesn't spare his own fellow villagers spare strangers?
Rumors say that a document named "Star's Homecoming Plan" is circulating among the families of the missing.
And as of now, there are over 1000 missing persons' information, with more than 300 having passed through Thailand to Eastern Myanmar.
So, one must be extremely cautious in life, never harboring undue optimism.
Because you never know who the "Yan Shiliu" on the other side of the internet might be.
