With her trust in Sun strengthened, they established a committed relationship and planned to meet each other’s parents.
The victim, never met the man who cheated her in real life, was lured into currency trading racket. Photo: Shutterstock
Sun even told her: “I will make more money during this period, then we can achieve financial freedom.”
He also boasted about his investment skills and how he had access to reliable insider information, persuading Jiang to register on an app he knew which was used for trading in digital currencies and foreign exchange.
After two successful trades and receipt of a generous US$990,000 from Sun, Jiang felt reassured and invested 20 million yuan, this time using her own cash and money from friends and family.
In January, a month after they first met online, a friend exposed inconsistencies in Sun’s story and when she could no longer access her money on the currency-trading app, Jiang realised she had been swindled.
She immediately called the police.
Investigations led to an accomplice, surnamed Li, a part-time online software developer who also worked on the currency trading app.
Li told the police he had simply complied with Sun’s demand that he improve features on the app.
Online love scams have become rampant in China as racketeers stalk the virtual world. Photo: Shutterstock
In an attempt to defend himself, Li said: “I am just an employee. If I didn’t do it, someone else would. I couldn’t prevent the fraud from happening.”
It emerged that Li had made a profit of more than 80,000 yuan (US$11,000) from the scheme and he was sentenced to a year and 10 months in prison, with a probation period of two years and six months, plus a fine of 10,000 yuan.
Social media observers scoffed at Li’s defence: “Even drug dealers resort to the same defence; if the employer didn’t hire me, he would hire someone else.
“However, without your contribution, the crimes would not have proceeded so successfully. Your actions actually aided the crimes,” said one person.
While some lamented over Jiang’s loss, others expressed astonishment at her considerable wealth.
One observer said: “How could she have accumulated 20 million yuan with such limited intelligence?”
Online love scams, commonly known as “pig butchering” or sha zhu pan in Mandarin, are rampant in China.
In December 2022, a Shanghai woman was conned out of nearly 2 million yuan in a 12 year-long racket perpetrated by an old friend posing as a well-known TV news anchor.
In 2021, Beijing police busted an 18-person gang based in Myanmar who duped more than 50 victims across China out of nearly 10 million yuan.
A survey of 240 scam victims carried out by the Global Anti-Scam Organisation revealed that the average amount lost in such cases was US$98,000 and 70 per cent of the victims were women.
