A MAN was caught Wednesday in Longgang District for allegedly committing fraud to pay his credit card bills, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

    The man, identified as Zhou, had accrued heavy debt by gambling and shopping online with his credit cards. He came up with an idea to deceive others into repaying his credit card bills.

    Longgang police received a report from a car-hailing service driver, surnamed Xu, on Dec. 4, saying that he had been cheated out of money.

    Xu said he met Zhou at a McDonald’s restaurant where Zhou asked for his help to pay his credit card bills, by promising to pay him a 2-percent service fee as reward. Shortly after Xu transferred 5,000 yuan (US$727) into his credit card, Zhou used his credit card to withdraw 5,000 yuan and repaid the amount, plus 100 yuan in commission, to Xu. By this way Zhou gained Xu’s trust and after a few days, he asked Xu to pay another 10,000 yuan for him. However Zhou left the restaurant without saying goodbye after saying he was going to buy drinks.

    Zhou admitted to swindling Xu after being arrested.

    Zhou admitted he had cheated two shops out of a few thousand yuan with the same trick in October.  (Zhang Qian, Liu Shiyang)