BEIJING (SCMP): A woman in China orchestrated a scheme in which she changed the locks on 80 flats, forged property documents, and unlawfully sold them, defrauding friends and family out of 24 million yuan (US$3.3 million) over five years.
Wang Wei from Gansu province in north-central China is reported to be in her early 30s, according to the news magazine Nanfengchuang.
After her marriage to Cheng in 2017, the couple accumulated considerable credit card debt due to Wang’s extravagant spending habits.
In an effort to alleviate part of this financial burden, Cheng’s father secured a loan of 450,000 yuan (US$62,000), using his home as collateral.
Determined to repay his father, Cheng adopted a frugal lifestyle for several years.
Little did he know that his wife had been orchestrating a sophisticated scam targeting family members since 2019.
It was during this period that Wang learned of a local company implementing a new batch of relocation houses that were awaiting allocation.
With the aid of Photoshop, she forged property certificates and floor plans, deceiving locksmiths into changing the locks on 80 flats by presenting them with counterfeit documents.
An anonymous locksmith recounted that every time Wang reached out to him, she would escort him up a staircase in the building away from surveillance cameras.
“She displayed the documents, which she claimed proved her ownership of the properties, so I had no reason to doubt her,” he explained.
To evade suspicion, Wang used various locksmiths, each replacing locks across multiple flats.
Once she possessed all the keys, Wang sold the properties at significantly reduced prices, misleadingly labelling them as “internal units” and offering flats valued at 1.1 million yuan (US$150,000) for 600,000 yuan each to 42 relatives and friends.
Over five years, she duped victims that included her aunt, her husband’s sister, and friends, totalling 24 million yuan in swindled funds.
Throughout this period, Wang regularly transferred money to a male live-streamer, Zhang Zhen, from Harbin in northeastern China.
Reports indicate that they developed a romantic relationship after Wang was captivated by him at first sight during a live-streaming session in October 2022.
Zhang disclosed that Wang gifted him several luxury vehicles, including an SUV valued at 1.4 million yuan. She also bought him properties. Wang reportedly spent over 9.8 million yuan (US$1.4 million) on Zhang.
Additionally, she spent hundreds of thousands of yuan on other male live-streamers.
None of this was known to Wang’s husband or her family, and even up until the fraud was exposed, her husband was still paying off her debt.
At the time of writing, Zhang and the live-streaming platform have collaborated with the police to recover the stolen funds.
Authorities have retrieved 8 million yuan so far.
One lawyer suggested that, given the substantial sum involved, Wang could potentially face a life sentence along with the confiscation of all her assets.
This case has ignited widespread attention on mainland social media, with related topics garnering over 3 million views.
One online observer remarked: “How did 80 flats go unnoticed for five years? Is there negligence on the part of the property management and developers?”
“The husband works tirelessly to settle debts, while the wife squanders stolen money to support another man. The cruelty of human nature is utterly shocking,” commented another. South China Morning Post