THREE suspects were detained in Hainan Province on Monday by Shenzhen police after they had allegedly swindled victims across the country out of 100,000 yuan (US$14,493) by claiming to be concert ticket salesmen, the Daily Sunshine reported Thursday.

    Police in Longgang District received complaints from three victims on the New Year’s Eve last year, who said they were cheated into paying nearly 10,000 yuan on Weibo and WeChat for tickets to a New Year countdown concert. Two other similar cases were also reported in Futian District and Guangzhou.

    After a monthlong investigation, a task force set up by Longgang police detained three suspects in Haikou, capital city of Hainan Province, on Monday and escorted them back to Shenzhen the next morning.

    All of the three suspects were born in the 1990s, and they admitted to police officers that they had posted false information on WeChat and Weibo about low-priced concert tickets for sale. They said they blacklisted buyers after receiving payments from them on Alipay, according to the Daily report.

    According to Longgang police, the three suspects were previously members of a fraud ring led by acquaintances from their hometown, but they left after learning “defrauding skills” from the ring in order to “do their own business,” the Daily report said.

    The Longgang police confirmed that the three suspects had swindled about 50 victims in several major cities, including Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, out of over 100,000 yuan.

    The police investigation of the case continues.

    (Zhang Yang)