‘I’m here’: Chinese fugitive suspected in US$2 million swindle gives away her Myanmar bolthole on Tik Tok
- Woman and three others accused of targeting elderly and newly rich
- Police tracked her to Myanmar after a social media message
A Chinese woman accused of running a lucrative swindle who fled to Myanmar was arrested last month after giving away her location on a live-streaming platform, police in southeastern China said.
The suspect, surnamed Zhang, was accused along with three others of duping more than 190 people out of about 14 million yuan (US$2 million) since April 2016, Guizhou police said on the force’s Weibo account. Most of the victims were elderly or had become wealthy thanks to property demolition compensation schemes.
Under the names of shell companies that included a wine business and a wealth management house, Zhang promised her targets interest of between 1.3 per cent and 2 per cent on their investment, but none of her entities operated legally, police said. Last October, the companies were reported to the authorities in Guizhou for illegal fundraising, by which time she had fled.
While her three alleged co-conspirators were arrested, police had no idea where Zhang was until March, and their breakthrough was unexpected, the official China Central Television network said.
According to police, Zhang laughed into a camera while live-streaming on the social media platform Tik Tok, and said: “Hello babies, I heard that the whole world is looking for me. I’m here!”