A small-time Chinese actor had been missing for two days in Thailand when his girlfriend decided to ask the internet for help.

“We have no choice but to borrow the power of the internet to amplify our voices,” Wang Xing’s girlfriend wrote on the Chinese social media platform Weibo on 5 January.

The plea went viral after it was shared by some of China’s biggest celebrities, including singer Lay Zhang and actor Qin Lan.

Wang, 31, had the country’s attention – as well as that of his government.

On 7 January, Wang was rescued from a scam centre across the border, in Myanmar – news met with a wave of relief.

But the swift yet mysterious rescue has also led to questions about the fate of those who remain trapped inside the scam centres. The case is a grim reminder of the thriving criminal businesses that still entrap hundreds of thousands of people, forcing them into cybercrime.

Families of Chinese nationals who may be being held in one of these compounds have started a petition urging their government to help them too. The petition document is shared online for anyone to fill in cases of their missing ones. The number of cases has already climbed to more than 600 from the initial 174, and is still increasing.

Wang told the police that there were around 50 Chinese nationals held in the same place as him alone.

“We are desperate to know if the remaining Chinese nationals [who were] with him have been rescued,” reads one top-liked comment on Weibo.

“Other people’s lives are also lives.”