A MAN surnamed Peng was put under criminal detention for allegedly cheating deposits and rental fees from to-be tenants recently.

A college graduate, surnamed Shi, transferred 7,200 yuan (US$1,093) after seeing photos of an apartment posted by Peng online for rent. Then Shi was unable reach Peng by phone after making the payment.

Dongmen Police Station in Luohu District started an investigation after receiving Shi’s report in June and caught Peng, 30, a native of Loudi in Hunan Province, in his hometown.

The investigation showed that Peng registered an account on a rental website and posted information about rentals that he collected from the Internet.

In reality, Peng owns no properties and has never even been to Shenzhen.

When the to-be tenants requested to see the apartments, Peng would fabricate reasons to decline meeting with them. If the potential tenants persisted in renting the apartments, Peng would then agree to sign a contract, but first Peng would insist they transfer the deposit and initial rent through WeChat or Alipay. After doing so, the potential tenants were unable to reach Peng when they expected to meet to finalize the contracts.

(Richard Han)