- Joined
- Jun 30, 2013
- Messages
- 344
- Points
- 0
Woman scams 2m yuan from trusting men
Global Times | 2014-2-18 22:28:02
By Lu Chen
A 36-year-old local woman has been accused of swindling two men out of more than 2 million yuan ($329,674), local media reported Tuesday.
The suspect, who was only identified as a divorced woman from Shanghai, was charged with fraud for tricking two men into giving her money to purchase investments that didn't actually exist, according to a report in the Metro Express.
Prosecutors said the suspect was a divorced housewife who used personality and the appearance of wealth to lure others into trusting her with their money.
"She has her charms," said a press officer from the Pudong New Area People's Prosecutor's Office.
The woman met one victim, a man who worked in finance, through an online matchmaking website at the beginning of 2012, the report said. The two became friends, and the woman occasionally invited him to her home in a luxury residential compound in Pudong New Area. She usually sent her driver to pick him up and take him home, which left him with the impression that she was wealthy.
Although they met on a matchmaking site, the pair spent most of their time together discussing investments, the report said. Marriage and romance didn't come up much.
Later, when the man got engaged to another woman, the suspect proposed that he and his betrothed buy her apartment. She offered to sell it to them for 6.8 million yuan, a price significantly below market.
The man agreed. Without signing a contract or doing any other due diligence, he transferred 1.43 million yuan to her bank account as a down payment, the report said. If he had bothered to check the property deed, he would've discovered that the woman didn't actually own the apartment.
When the man decided to move in on October 12, 2013, he was surprised to find it was in the midst of renovations. Eventually, the apartment's actual owner arrived and informed him that the woman had been his tenant. The man then reported the incident to police.
The report did not say how police tracked down the suspect.
Prosecutors later learned that the woman had scammed another man, whom she met in April 2012 at a class on private equity funding. From March to August 2013, the man gave her a total of 670,000 yuan to put into nonexistent investments.
The woman has a history of criminal deceit. In June, she was sentenced to probation for credit card fraud.
Last edited:
