An online racketeering duo have been accused of conning a wealthy friend out of 800,000 yuan (US$110,000) after a son introduced his 51-year-old mother as his 27-year-old “childhood friend” who was keen to begin a relationship.
The con man, surnamed Li, was having trouble paying his mother’s debts, so he hatched a plan to cheat his wealthy friend, surnamed Zhu.
Li met Zhu while he was an intern at a Shanghai company and kept in touch with him after returning to his hometown in southern China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.
Last year, Li put Zhu in touch with his mother via WeChat under the alias Lu Ye, and they quickly began dating online. Li’s mother told Zhu that she would come to Shanghai to meet him and marry him in the future.
Starting in April 2022, Li’s mother scammed more than 800,000 yuan out of Zhu.
She would borrow tens and even hundreds of thousands of yuan per request and never returned the money, using excuses such as family members suddenly falling ill or her debit cards being frozen.
In a screen capture of their chat provided by the media outlet Shangguan News, the mother told Zhu she needed 550,000 yuan (US$75,000), and said she “would never be with anyone else except you”.
Zhu responded: “I will not let you die before me,” even though they had never met in person.
The woman blocked Zhu on WeChat after he became suspicious and stopped giving her money. In September, Zhu called the police.
Last month, after an investigation Li and his mother were detained at their home in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.
Reports on the case attracted almost 5 million views on Douyin, the mainland equivalent of TikTok, with many expressing shock at the success of a scam full of loopholes.
“How did she manage to borrow 800,000 yuan from him without meeting in person? I cannot even ask a guy to buy me a milk tea,” said one online observer.
“My relatives would not even lend me that much money,” said another.
Last month, a married woman from eastern China was reported to have faked marriages with three other men and conned them out of 660,000 yuan (US$90,000).
She got away with the scam until she lied to one “husband” about having his twin babies without being able to show him the children in real life.