China couple abandon baby with nanny after claiming they will receive US$55 million inheritance from woman’s ex
- Woman promised US$1,000 monthly salary, not paid in months, lends cash
- Shown screenshots of property certificate, gold, watches, deposit boxes
A couple in China left their baby with a nanny saying they were about to inherit 400 million yuan (US$55 million) then disappeared owing her 110,000 yuan (US$15,000).
The incident has ignited a heated discussion online, with many people suspecting the couple are not the biological parents, but used the child to commit fraud.
The pair from Harbin, Heilongjiang province, northeastern China, left the five-month-old infant in the care of a nanny they had employed but had not paid.
They claimed they were about to come into a lot of cash from the wife’s former partner who had died. Instead, they vanished and have been gone for more than a month.
The nanny, surnamed Yu, said she was promised a monthly salary of 7,000 yuan (US$1,000). Yet, despite several months of service, she was not paid and even loaned the couple 50,000 yuan.
“I gave them all my savings, but since November last year, I haven’t received my salary. They owe me and the money I borrowed from my brother. Without any income, I’m still caring for their child,” she told Heilongjiang Radio and Television.
She showed proof of financial transactions with the couple via WeChat.
“They said they were in Tianjin. It’s quite bizarre. They went to inherit the wealth left by the child’s mother’s boyfriend from 10 years ago,” Yu said.
To gain the nanny’s trust, her employers showed her screenshots that they claimed were of the inheritance, which featured gold, luxury watches, and safety deposit boxes.
They also showed her a photo of a property ownership certificate, and said it was a hotel in the Daowai district of Harbin that they would soon own. Based on that “evidence”, she loaned them another 8,000 yuan.
When she called the hotel after finding the phone number online, the staff denied any knowledge of her employers’ names. A closer inspection of the photo of the property certificate showed some of the text had been altered.
Efforts to contact her employers via phone or WeChat have failed, leaving Yu with no way of recouping her loss.
The nanny’s situation has sparked an intense online discussion with many advising the nanny to report the matter to the police, suspecting she may have been the target of an audacious scam.
“Are they even the real parents? Why not take the child with you if you’re going to claim a 400 million-yuan inheritance?” asked one online observer.
“You should report this to the police. This story has too many holes. It’s highly unlikely her ex would leave her such an inheritance unless the child was his. This smells like a scam,” said another.
“Is it possible the child isn’t actually theirs? Maybe they kidnapped the child to sell but, finding no buyers, turned to scamming instead,” said a third person.
“This couple may have either kidnapped or abandoned the child. In either case, it’s a crime. I’m waiting to see if any action will be taken,” said another.
