A-bra-cadabra! Chinese woman duped into spending US$25,000 on ‘magical’ lingerie
Victim told the high-priced bras and knickers harnessed the ‘power of the volcano’ to make women sexier
People around the world are familiar with the Wonderbra, but a woman from central China has been left wondering how she was duped into spending 168,000 yuan (US$24,800) on lingerie with “magical powers”, local media reported.
The story began when the 35-year-old former snack shop manager, surnamed Li, from Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, befriended one of her customers late last year, Chutian Metropolis Daily reported on Monday.
After knowing each other for several months, the friend, surnamed Wei, invited Li to visit a health and beauty clinic in the city’s Hanyang district. The couple was accompanied by a third woman, surnamed Ou.
While there, Wei and Ou told Li that the salon used ancient Chinese techniques to boost blood flow through the body that could help women to maintain a youthful physique. With the help of a staff member, they also convinced her to pay 8,000 yuan for an underwear set, which they claimed used “special technology” to replicate the salon’s treatments, the report said.
With that sale under their belts, Wei and Ou then sold Li on the idea of opening her own lingerie shop, which they said could be very lucrative.
So, later the same day, Wei and Ou took Li to meet two underwear suppliers, whom she was told offered products that captured “the power of the volcano” to make “women sexier and men healthier”, the report said.
A salesperson for the two companies added that if Li bought 80,000 yuan’s worth of goods, she would be entitled to a 62 per cent discount.
Li was convinced, and handed over 160,000 yuan for “more than 40” sets of the allegedly magical bras and knickers, the report said.
Unfortunately for her, when she tried to sell the products on, she struggled to find anyone willing to meet her asking price. After three months of trying, and not a single item sold, she began to realise she had been duped.
When her husband discovered what had happened, he contacted the police, the report said. It did not elaborate.
It did, however, quote an employee of the health and beauty salon, who said that Li’s failure to sell any of the items was “because [she] lacks perseverance and willpower”.
“But Li can keep her beauty until she is 60 by wearing the underwear,” the person, surnamed Wen, added.
