FIVE years of a long-distance relationship turning out to be another fraud is an unacceptable fact for a Shenzhen woman, Shenzhen TV reported Thursday.

    The woman, surnamed Ouyang, got to know her African boyfriend, identified only as Robin, five years ago on a dating website. The man met Ouyang in person in Hong Kong twice during their five-year relationship and both of them had good impressions of the other, according to Ouyang.

    Although they didn’t speak the same language, Ouyang and her boyfriend maintained a good relationship via online communication and translation tools. A certain period of time after the two confirmed their relationship, Robin proposed and Ouyang said yes.

    However, when the couple started to plan their wedding in Shenzhen three years ago, Robin suddenly said that he had been sent to Syria for work. Ouyang said that she had no choice but to support Robin’s job transfer and agreed to put off their wedding.

    Before purportedly leaving for Syria, Robin told her that he had transferred all of his savings, valued around US$20 million, to a bank account in Ouyang’s name.

    In recent months, the two started to discuss wedding arrangements. Just a few days before Robin was expected to come to China, he said that due to the special conditions in Syria, he had to take the only transportation available, a private jet, but had no way to pay for it.

    With an earnest wish to get married, Ouyang promised to help Robin out and borrowed 60,000 yuan (US$8,706) from a bank and relatives. Shortly after Ouyang transferred the money to Robin, he said that he had gotten permission to board the plane.

    However, Robin did not arrive in Shenzhen as schedule and Ouyang couldn’t help worrying about her fiancé.

    She was later told that Robin was in critical condition as his plane had encountered an accident in West Africa while flying to Shenzhen and Robin was badly injured. Without money for the surgery fees, the African hospital could barely save Robin’s life, Ouyang was told.

    Feeling shocked and frightened, Ouyang told the person who had contacted her through Robin’s WeChat that she could pay for his treatment with the money Robin had left for her. However, she received an email requiring her to pay 80,000 yuan in tax before she could take money out of the bank account that Robin had opened for her.

    It was then that Ouyang’s family and friends, as well as police, told her that it was a scam.

    A psychologist, named Wang Liufeng, said that the woman had immersed herself in the fantasy of a romantic relationship too much to believe the reality.

    (Zhang Qian)