PHNOM PENH -- For four months, 38-year-old Lydia Chng, a Malaysian nurse working in Singapore, thought she was talking to Li Beizhi, a 34-year-old interior designer from Shanghai living in Vancouver.
He had introduced himself on Instagram in June, and they soon started talking on WhatsApp. He told her of his childhood, of being raised by his grandmother after his parents divorced, of his love of drawing.
