PHNOM PENH: Fears that a wealthy young Singaporean woman had been lured to Cambodia and kidnapped turned out to be unfounded after the woman was found safe and well in the Kingdom.
The woman told authorities she had run away from her strict family and travelled to Cambodia to meet an online gaming friend. She had also switched off her mobile phone.
Cambodian authorities located Aishah Siregar, 20, shortly after Singapore's Channel NewsAsia (CNA) reported that her family had appealed for public assistance after she travelled unexpectedly to Cambodia and became uncontactable, raising concerns that she may have been lured to a scam compound.
The case drew widespread attention after CNA reported that she left Singapore on July 28 without informing her family.
According to the report, her last message to her mother stated that she was going to school. When relatives later attempted to collect her, they discovered that her WhatsApp and Telegram accounts had been deleted and her mobile phone was switched off.
After returning home, the family realised her passport was missing and later found an airline itinerary showing that she had boarded a flight to Cambodia that afternoon.
Her brother, Syafiq Siregar, told CNA that the family subsequently discovered she had transferred hundreds of dollars to an unknown individual in the days before her departure and had been communicating with someone she met through an online gaming platform.
The circumstances led relatives to fear that she may have been trafficked to an online scam compound, an issue that has attracted growing international attention in recent years.
Ministry of Interior spokesperson Touch Sokkhak said Cambodian authorities located the woman at a private condominium in Phnom Penh's Tuol Kork district.
"She said she had been experiencing emotional stress within her family and decided to leave her country," he said.
He noted that she switched off her mobile phone after arriving in Cambodia, preventing her family from contacting her and prompting them to seek assistance from Cambodian authorities.
"Further details may be provided in the coming days," he added.
Sokkhak said the ministry became aware of the case on the evening of July 30 after being contacted by journalists who had been approached by the woman's family.
After receiving the information, he said the Phnom Penh Municipal Police, the General Department of Immigration and the National Police worked together to locate the woman.
Singapore Police confirmed they were investigating the case and had been in contact with Interpol before Cambodian authorities announced that the woman had been found.
Cambodian authorities have not released further details about the circumstances of the woman's stay in the country, saying only that investigations and administrative procedures remain ongoing. - Phnom Penh Post/ANN
