HUNDREDS of men thought they had found true love online, but were actually cheated out of money by a group of young swindlers, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

    The Department of Public Security of Guangdong Province announced that the Shenzhen police cracked down on groups bilking men for cash June 21. Eighty-two suspects had cheated money out of 103 victims.

    Three men and three women were involved in a case that took place in Longhua New Area, Shenzhen, according to the police. The Longhua Public Security Sub-bureau had received reports of online fraud beginning in April this year.

    Victims claimed that “beautiful women” added them as friends on social media and asked to borrow money. The victims were mainly single men aged from 17 to 40 years old.

    The gang, comprised of young people aged around 21 years old, got 230,000 yuan (US$34,569) from 25 male victims in only one month.

    A man surnamed Zhao, 32, was one of the victims. He was cheated out of 8,700 yuan by a “beautiful lady” online. According to Zhao, a woman added him as a friend on a social media and the two confirmed they would begin a romantic relationship after chatting online for a week.

    Zhao said that his “girlfriend” said she had appendicitis and needed money for treatment. Zhao believed the woman and transferred over 1,000 yuan to her. The woman later returned a few hundred yuan to Zhao, gaining his trust.

    But the scam did not end there. The woman asked to borrow money from Zhao a few other times. When Zhao finally required a meeting with his “girlfriend” in person, the woman refused and blocked Zhao on the social media service. Realizing that he was swindled by the woman, Zhao called the Longhua police.

    Clues provided by the victims led police to a group named “Kaixiang.” The ring targeted male phone users while posing as a sales group for cosmetic products.

    The gang was made up of a large number of members and had general managers. The head of the gang was the general manager and core members were the managers in charge of the groups daily routines.

    The lower members formed sub-groups of five or six people and lived together. Every sub-group needed to give 6,800 yuan to the gang, taking a commission of 17 percent.

    With support from Dongguan police, Shenzhen police raided 20 strongholds of the fraud group with 82 suspects detained already.