US$42,000 China romance scammers snared after flying below radar by swindling small amounts out of many men, hoping they would write off loss
- Racketeers pose as women seeking relationships with men, manipulate them into funding fake lifestyles
- Shanghai police bust fraud ring involving 20 people in 7 Chinese cities
Police in China have busted a fraud ring that had duped an undisclosed number of male victims out of a combined 300,000 yuan (US$42,000) by scamming each individual out of a small amount of money.
Police in Shanghai arrested 20 members of the network from seven cities across the country.
The gang had successfully flown under the radar because each victim typically lost a few hundred yuan (tens of US dollars), meaning they were less likely to report the crime to the police, according to The Paper.
The racketeers posed as women seeking relationships with men, then manipulated them into giving them money to fund their fake lifestyles.
The authorities were tipped off in September by a man, surnamed Liang, who said he lost 1,000 yuan (US$140) to a “woman” identifying herself as Xiaoling.
Liang said he got to know Xiaoling through a dating website and soon fell in love with her because she gave him the impression of being a “sweet younger sister”.