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The three leading members of the gang were jailed at Guangzhou’s Haizhu District Court on Wednesday. Photo: SCMP Pictures
A criminal gang of 19 Chinese men pretended to be pretty women on social media to charm potential clients looking for prostitutes, mainland media reports.
The men, who were convicted of soliciting prostitutes in Guangzhou on Wednesday, used the mobile messaging application, WeChat, to approach and recruit clients and also organise women prostitutes to meet them later in hotels, the Information Times reported on Thursday.
Gang members downloaded photographs of attractive women to use on their WeChat profiles so that potential clients thought they were women, Guangzhou’s Haizhu District Court, in Guangdong province, was told.
The head of the gang was sentenced to seven years in jail and fined 300,000 yuan on Wednesday, while another two key members were jailed for five and six years respectively and fined 100,000 yuan.
Social media has become an popular platform for soliciting prostitutes in China.
Although authorities have launched large crackdowns against such crimes, the trend continues.
Chinese police arrest 43 in syndicate targeting Singapore men in credit-for-sex scams
Scammers would flirt with the men on a messaging app such as Weixin, then promise sexual services for a price.
Scammers would flirt with the men on a messaging app such as Weixin, then promise sexual services for a price.PHOTO: THE NEW PAPER
Published 8 hours ago
Chew Hui Min
SINGAPORE - Forty-three members of a fraud syndicate that tricked Singaporean men into paying for non-existent sexual services were arrested in China last month.
The syndicate was uncovered in a joint investigation by the Singapore Police Force and the criminal investigation department of China's Ministry of Public Security.
Victims in Singapore were cheated of about $1.6 million in 627 cases of credit-for-sex scams in the first half of 2015, police said.
Police investigations revealed that the culprits behind the scams operated from call centres based in China.
They deceived victims into paying money for non-existent sexual services through social media platforms.
China media reported that while the scammers posed as girls in Singapore, they were in fact operating from China.
First, they would flirt with the men on a messaging app such as WeChat, then they promised sexual services for a price and asked for the man's address.
They would ask to be paid in advance. Instead of a money transfer, they requested to be paid using Alipay, iTunes gift cards or other online payment modes.
The scammer then concocted a variety of reasons to ask for money without showing up. If the victim stopped paying, they resorted to threats.
One Singaporean victim had more than $10,000 extorted in this way, reported hangzhou.com.cn.
In December 2015, the Chinese police conducted simultaneous raids at various locations in China and detained 43 members of a syndicate responsible for such scams.
Several computers, telecommunication devices and modems were seized.
Mr David Chew, director of the Singapore Police Force Commercial Affairs Department, said: "We appreciate the support from our Chinese counterparts in this joint investigation. The close cooperation between the SPF and the Chinese Police was instrumental in crippling this transnational criminal syndicate."
"We spare no efforts to clamp down on criminals who hide behind the anonymity of the Internet to prey on victims across borders," he added.
The syndicate may also have targeted Chinese victims in Australia, said reports quoting Chinese police.
