A Chinese woman’s extravagant lifestyle, funded by a shocking US$3.3 million fraud, has been exposed, leaving her husband to grapple with mounting debt and betrayal, according to the South China Morning Post. While the husband reportedly lived frugally to pay off existing debts, his wife secretly orchestrated a scheme to defraud friends and acquaintances. The woman allegedly changed the locks on 80 apartments and then fraudulently sold them, amassing a fortune she used to shower a live-streamer with extravagant gifts, including properties and other luxury items.
According to SCMP, Wang Wei from Gansu province in north-central China is reported to be in her early 30s. 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 learnt 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. Over five years, she duped victims that included her aunt, her husband’s sister, and friends, totalling 24 million yuan in swindled funds, as per news portal.
The scheme was ultimately uncovered, leaving a trail of financial devastation and broken trust. The wife now faces potential legal consequences for her actions, while her husband is left to deal with the fallout of her betrayal and the weight of the accumulated debt. The case has sparked outrage and disbelief, highlighting the devastating consequences of greed and deception.