Hong Kong authorities urged to provide clear answer on rescue of scam farm victims

Hong Kong authorities have been urged to provide a clear answer on their plan to rescue residents forced to work at scam farms in Southeast Asia, after the families of some victims went through the start of Lunar New Year without news about their loved ones, a situation they said was worryingly “abnormal”.

Former district councillor Andy Yu Tak-po made the appeal on Thursday, saying scam farms would usually allow the victims to talk to their families by phone or send text messages to report they were “safe” during festive periods.

“But this Lunar New Year, some of the families did not receive any news from the victims, which made them feel very worried about their health or whether they have run into unexpected circumstances,” he wrote in a Facebook post.

“The families feel increasingly worried, and they hope that the government can give them a definitive answer about their rescue plan to ease their anxiety.”

The Security Bureau sent a task force to Thailand earlier this month to discuss ways to rescue 12 Hongkongers who were lured to the country and later forced to work in scam farms in Myanmar and Cambodia. Two of them have since returned to the city.

Yu said he himself had received one more request from the family of a victim still being held by criminals.