More than 30 employees of Shanghai Willis Fitness, including the manager, lost contact in Thailand. The manager "Huang Jifu's" father confirmed to the self-media "PR World's 007" in Thailand on the morning of January 17 that they had been missing for 3 months.
It was rumored on January 15: More than 30 employees of the Shanghai Willis Fitness Club Panyu Road branch, along with the manager "Huang Jifu", went to Thailand for team building and then lost contact.
Meng Ping, the manager of Willis's Changning store who knows "Huang Jifu", posted a "help" email from "Huang Jifu" dated January 8!
The screenshot of the email shows: They are trapped in the Apollo Park in Myawaddy, Myanmar, the company is called Zuo Xiang Group, and it also provided the phone numbers of his brother and father, and specifically requested at the end of the help letter: Do not spread this matter, do not publicize it, otherwise I will be beaten to death.
After hearing this rumor, the self-media person "PR World's 007" in Thailand contacted "Huang Jifu's" brother through Thai and Chinese phone numbers on January 16, but both calls were cut off.
At 8:24 AM on January 17, 007 finally got through to "Huang Jifu's" father's phone, and his first sentence confirmed "indeed lost contact, and it has been 3 months already".
"Huang Jifu's" father further added: They lost contact on October 6, 2024, during the National Day holiday, which matches the online rumor of being deceived during a team-building trip to Thailand. It is very likely that the "scammer" used the National Day holiday as an excuse to take all the employees to Thailand for team building, and then sold them as slaves to Myanmar.
Who is the "scammer"? According to the internal group chat records of the employees, the scammer is "Wu Haifeng", the regional head of Willis in Shanghai.
007 found that Willis Fitness was established in 1996 and is a well-known leading brand in the fitness industry, with branches in more than 160 first and second-tier cities nationwide, including 76 directly-operated stores in Shanghai alone, with an annual card priced at 5888 yuan, serving more than 5 million member visits.
However, since 2024, there have been frequent reports of closures and bankruptcies of several Willis stores, and multiple media on-site interviews have confirmed that the Raffles City store in Hongkou, Baoshan store, Pudong store, and other stores in Shanghai have closed, leaving members without refunds.
The missing Willis Panyu Road store was also planning to close and transfer its employees, but the regional head "Wu Haifeng" suddenly proposed a team-building trip to Thailand before the transfer, and everyone was unguarded, resulting in more than 30 people going to Thailand and all losing contact until the trapped manager "Huang Jifu" sent out a distress letter on January 8, revealing that all more than 30 people had been sold to Myanmar.
"Huang Jifu's" father said: They had reported the disappearance quite early, and have been missing since October 6, for 3 months now, with no one calling or video-calling to demand ransom, nor has he been able to contact his son by phone or video.
"Huang Jifu's" father finally mentioned: In the next two days, a contact person from Shanghai will go to Thailand to handle the situation. When asked who specifically, he did not specify.
Regarding whether "Huang Jifu's" father would also go to Thailand to report the case like other parents of the missing, "Huang Jifu's" father said: He will not go for now, someone from Shanghai will handle it, and they will go today (January 17) or tomorrow (January 18).
From the tone of "Huang Jifu's" father, it didn't seem "too worried", he seemed to have an answer in mind (or feared the worst), or firmly believed that including his own son, the other more than 30 Willis employees, would return safely.
Chinese actor Wang Xing, who went missing in Thailand on January 3, has returned to China and released a new video reassuring "hoping to get out of the gloom soon"; a 21-year-old girl from Jiangsu who went missing on January 6 was rescued by Thai police on January 10 and returned to China; We hope that including the more than 30 employees of Shanghai Willis Fitness Club, all the deceived can return to China safely soon, and have a reunion year.
