'Lust, Caution' actress swindled out of 210,000 yuan by telephone : report
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 12 January, 2014, 8:06pm
UPDATED : Monday, 13 January, 2014, 5:16pm
Associated Press in Beijing
Actress Tang Wei. Photo: Sam Tsang
Chinese actress Tang Wei fell victim to a US$35,000 fraud scheme after being persuaded over the phone to wire money to a suspect, state media reported on Sunday.
Citing local police, the official Xinhua News Agency reported that Tang, star of the critically acclaimed film Lust, Caution was filming in Shanghai on Saturday afternoon when she received a phone call and was persuaded to go to a bank and wire the 210,000 yuan (HK$267,000).
A scene from the Ang Lee movie "Lust, Caution" featuring Tang Wei (left) and Tony Leung. Photo: Edko Film
It was unclear who the suspect was and how exactly the actress was convinced to send thousands in cash.
Xinhua said police in Shanghai’s Songjiang district were investigating after receiving a report from Tang.
Internet users posted messages and photos on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo, claiming to have seen Tang in a bank.
Calls to the Songjiang police propaganda office and Tang’s Beijing-based agent rang unanswered Sunday.
Tang shot to international fame playing a Chinese student activist who seduces a Japanese-allied spy chief in the second world war thriller Lust, Caution. Her politically sensitive role as a traitor in the 2007 movie led to a three-year reported blacklisting by the mainland’s film officials.
