Influencer fakes own kidnap
Compiled by C.ARUNO, FARIK ZOLKEPLI AND R.ARAVINTAN

TAIWANESE influencer Goodnight Chicken, who live-streamed his own kidnapping by an alleged scam call centre in Cambodia, was sentenced to two years in prison and fined four million riel (RM4,684) for the hoax, China Press reported.

The Preah Sihanouk court on Feb 15 found Chen and fellow YouTuber Lu Tsu-hsien guilty of inciting social unrest for intending to create videos of human smuggling, torture, rape and human organ trading in Cambodia.

Preah Sihanouk governor Kuoch Chamroeu told reporters this was a serious matter and it cannot be resolved with just a slap on the wrist.

“If we forgive them, there will be more who will come up with similar falsehoods to smear the image of Cambodia,” he said.

The 31-year-old, whose real name is Chen Neng Chuan, arrived at the coastal city of Sihanoukville on Feb 11 purportedly to show viewers what he claimed as being “the world’s darkest corner” where “many Taiwanese have been cheated and enslaved”.

The next day, Chen livestreamed himself sneaking into a scam call centre but the video was cut short when the camera fell to the ground after he was believed to have been attacked by a man dressed in military uniform.

His wife uploaded a video claiming that Chen had gone missing and that the family was unable to get in touch with him.

Chen managed to go on a live stream again on Feb 13, after he claimed to have escaped from the scam call centre.

In the video, Chen claimed that he was captured by several armed men who tasered him, shaved his head and robbed him of US$3,500 he had on him.

However, Chen and Lu were arrested by police on Feb 15.

They were found to have faked the entire incident. Police discovered that Chen’s crew bought props, such as military outfits, fake guns and fake blood.

> A man in Hong Kong, who was walking around in a lion dance costume and demanding ang pow from local businesses, was arrested for performing lion dance without a permit, China Press reported.

Usually involving two dancers, the man was seen dressed in what appears to be a knockoff lion dance costume along the streets of Yau Ma Tei.

Video footage of the incident showed whenever the man reached the front of a shop, he would say a few auspicious words before asking for ang pow.

When operators refused his demands, the performer would stand in front of the shop while sounding a gong in what was perceived to be an attempt to disrupt business.

In a bid to get rid of him quickly, some stall operators would oblige and hand him an ang pow.

Police announced on Feb 16 that they had arrested the man for performing lion dance in public without a permit the day before.

The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.
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TAIWANESE influencer Good­night Chicken, who live-streamed his own kidnapping by an alleged scam call centre in Cambodia, was sentenced to two years in prison and fined four million riel (RM4,684) for the hoax, China Press reported.