A MAN was sentenced to 10 years in jail for fraud involving more than 700,000 yuan (US$107,692) by Futian People’s Court recently.

    The scammer, surnamed Luo, got 737,000 yuan from the victim, identified as Yang. Yang believed he was sending money to a friend of a friend to buy products from the United States and ship them to him in China.

    Yang had actually been tricked by Luo, who used a picture of a woman, who is a friend of Yang’s friend, Zhang Hao, on WeChat. The contact in the United States did not actually exist. After the 16th bank transfer to the scammer, the scammer disappeared.

    According to prosecutors, Yang added Luo on WeChat who told Yang that she was Carrie, a friend of Zhang’s. Zhang confirmed that Carrie was his friend after seeing her photo on Luo’s WeChat account.

    Luo then invited another friend called Yutong into a group chat with Yang, where they often chatted with each other. Luo claimed she lived in Hong Kong while Yutong was based in the United States. He often posted photos of life in Hong Kong and the United States.

    Yang asked Yutong for help in purchasing products in the United States.

    In April, Yang made 16 bank transfers totaling 794,800 yuan to the two accounts given by Luo. Yang was promised he would receive his products in May. The two couldn’t be reached by phone in May and Yang’s friend later confirmed they had been using other people’s photos.

    Police caught Luo after an investigation following Yang’s report. Luo was convicted of using other people’s photos and running both WeChat accounts to trick Yang.

    Luo had been employed at Yang’s company since 2013 and was familiar with Yang’s work, life and social circle. He stole photos from his WeChat friends circle to win trust and claimed he lived in the United States.

    Luo had gone bankrupt after gambling in Macao.

    (Han Ximin)