Going abroad for work may be an exciting experience for some, especially those early in their careers.
However, things can quickly go south for those who are not careful.
The saga of a 22-year-old Malaysian woman who went overseas for work and later went missing continues.
In the latest update, the woman made several posts on her social media account claiming that she is “safe”.
Here is the update on what happened.
“Missing” Woman Posts on Her Social Media Account That She Is “Safe”
We all know that Ms Angie Chong was reported missing on 1 June by her mother when Ms Chong failed to respond to the latter woman’s WhatsApp messages.
She was headed to Chiang Mai, Thailand, for a work trip to purchase supplies for her sales company. However, there have been suggestions that she was actually in Myanmar as a netizen claimed to have “matched” with Ms Chang on a dating application (and her location was indicated as Myanmar).
Since then, Ms Chong posted a video on the internet saying she is “very safe” but did not specify her location. The only keywords she mentioned were that she was very safe and healthy.
But there were still concerns over the truth of these statements, given Ms Chong’s uncomfortable facial expressions and stiff repetition of words.
Several Instagram stories have been posted on her social media account with the same rhetoric that Ms Chong is safe and sound.
The first of the series of stories, as reported by China Press, showed Ms Chong’s selfie with on-screen captions in Chinese, saying that the story was delayed by 24 hours due to “poor internet connection”.
She again clarified that she was fine and “very safe” with a red heart emoji.
The following Instagram story was just a wall of text, including that Ms Chong had contacted her family and that she was “safe”.
It also asked people not to worry and that all the videos “on [F]acebook/website” are “all real”.
The story also stated that Ms Chong would not reply to all the messages sent to her as there were “too many” to respond to.
The third Instagram story she posted was unrelated to her safety but instead appeared to be an advertisement for beauty services.
A picture of someone undergoing a facial was uploaded, with the captions in Chinese reading that Ms Chong could liaise any interested parties with someone who does facials or provides make-up services.
Malaysian Government Official Also Confirmed That She Is Safe
In a Facebook post by Sabah State Member of Parliament for Sandakan Vivian Wong, MP Wong confirmed that Ms Chong managed to reach out to her family.
However, it is still unclear if Ms Chong has been found and whether the 22-year-old can safely return to Malaysia.
Writing in Chinese and Malay, MP Wong says that Ms Chong had contacted her mother to confirm that she was unharmed.
MP Wong also briefly summarised what transpired since Ms Chong went missing on 1 June.
According to MP Wong’s post, Ms Chong’s family flew to Thailand from Johor, Malaysia, after Ms Chong was reported missing on 1 June and met with the local police there.
There were discussions about where Ms Chong lived and who she met. The police also shared with Ms Chong’s family that her last known location was Chiang Mai, Thailand.
The family was determined to uncover the truth of what happened to Ms Chong and is allowing the Thai authorities to continue their investigations into Ms Chong’s disappearance.
What a scary situation, indeed.
Ms Chong’s mother has yet to publicly announce that her daughter did contact her, as shared by MP Wong.
For those who reside in Singapore and want to travel overseas, you may want to take precautionary steps, such as registering your foreign travel with our Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).
The site states that the information a traveller provides will “allow us to contact you in order to make sure that you are safe and, if need be, assist you should an emergency (eg natural disasters, civil unrest, etc) occur”.
While there is some “good news” about Ms Chong’s safety, many netizens are not buying it.
For one, there appear to be several suspicious points that do not add up.
The possibility that Ms Chong’s account (together with the account of her mother) may have been hacked still stands.
Some netizens were seen discussing in the comments section of various news articles reporting this matter that the Instagram posts probably did not originate from Ms Chong herself.
And on the issue of Ms Chong’s mother’s account being hacked, netizens pointed to the “suspicious” activity on the account.
Ms Chong’s mother was apparently active on Facebook, changing her profile picture multiple times in succession.
One image used as the profile picture of Ms Chong’s mother’s account was the face of her missing daughter.
At some point in time, screenshots of Ms Chong’s Instagram stories were used.
The final picture was that of a pig figurine with some plants and flowers in the background.
It seems unlikely that a mother who reported her daughter missing in a foreign land would have the frame of mind to update her Facebook account pictures and not provide any updates about her missing daughter.
Until Ms Chong returns to Malaysia with her family, it remains unclear if she is truly safe or still in danger.