Hong Kong beautician gets 4 years for selling friends to Myanmar scam hub

Victims lured into travelling to Thailand before selling them to Chinese man

A Hong Kong beautician has been sentenced to four years in jail for tricking two friends into forced labour and confinement in Myanmar's notorious "KK Park" scam farm, with a judge slamming her actions as "vicious and inhumane".

District Court Judge Adriana Noelle Tse Ching on Tuesday said the 33-year-old defendant, Poon Sum-yi, had premeditated the fraudulent scheme to lure the two victims into travelling to Thailand, before selling them to the Chinese-run scam compound in neighbouring Myanmar for US$54,000 (1.8 million baht) in December 2024.

The two victims - unemployed Peng Xinying and part-time model Liu Bingbing - were Poon's friends and were initially invited by her to join her on a trip to Japan or Canada.

Poon later told the pair that she bought them tickets for a flight to Thailand on Dec 27, 2024, and that they would return the following night.

The defendant told them they would be paid a fee upon transporting 48 million baht.

After landing in Bangkok at around 11pm, Peng and Liu boarded a car they believed would transport them to their hotel, only to realise the next morning they were heading to the northern city of Chiang Mai.

Upon arriving at the Thai-Myanmar border, five men wielding knives and sticks escorted them across a river and confiscated their belongings.

Six other gun-wielding men in military uniform then forced them into another vehicle and told them they had been "sold" to Myanmar.

At the scam farm, a mainland Chinese man nicknamed "Rabbit Chief" informed the women they would only be released if they paid a US$500,000 ransom or helped the syndicate bilk the same amount from wealthy overseas Chinese.

Judge Tse said the victims had experienced "an extreme level of fright" when they learned that they were kidnapped and unable to call for help. They knew that they would not be able to leave as they did not have that amount of money.

"[The defendant] completely disregarded the victims' safety. Her action was vicious and inhumane," she said, adding that the court needed to impose a serious penalty to serve as a deterrent.

The court previously heard that the victims were detained in KK Park for nearly two weeks before being released after their relatives paid the ransom.

Tse noted that although Poon was charged with fraud, the case fundamentally involved human trafficking - a crime for which Hong Kong lacks dedicated legislation.