In a plot straight out of a movie, a con woman managed to swindle 36 men by pretending to date them and luring them into buying flats in a nearby city, according to a report in South China Morning Post. The scam took place in the Chinese city of Shenzhen where the woman behind the scam, identified herself as Liu Jia to all the men involved, believed to be in their 30s.
After a brief period of courtship with the men, Liu would ask them to buy residential blocks in either Huizhou, a city about 90 km away from Shenzhen or Guangdong province, located in the southern region of the country.
One of the victims, using the alias Atao revealed that Liu claimed to be 30 years old, hailing from Hunan and working for an electric commerce company in Shenzhen. Liu told Atao that he must buy a house as only then she would go to meet his parents and cohabit with him.
To make the scam look legit, she offered to pay Rs 3.6 lakh (30,000 yuan) out of her own pocket to support Atao when paying the down payment for the two blocks in Huizhou, named Jiu Jing Tai and Hao Yi Shang Yuan.
“She left me an impression of being tender, virtuous, family-oriented and considerate. I thought she was a perfect girlfriend,” said Atao.
After Atao bought one of the two blocks, Liu began to treat her coldly and after some time, could not be contacted. As per Atao, the brief romantic relationship cost him a home loan of Rs 49,317 (4,100 yuan per month in addition to the rent he needs to pay in Shenzhen.
Also Read | Afghan Women Turn To AI Companions Amid Taliban’s Harsh Restrictions
Previous instance
This is not the first instance when a Chinese woman has pulled off a property scam. Last month, a 40-year-old woman from Shanghai, surnamed Meng, was jailed after she fleeced her relatives to the tune of Rs 14 crore ($1.6 million).
Meng staged a fake wedding with a man she met while hitchhiking and presented him as a ‘rich’ real estate businessman to her relatives and forced them to buy properties at discounted prices. A court trial ensued and she was jailed for 12 years and six months for contract fraud. Jiang, the fake husband received six years as he had signed the house-leasing contracts with the flats’ real owners.