Khaberni - Shanghai police revealed a shocking case of a homeless man who managed to deceive several women by pretending to be wealthy, exploiting them to finance his lavish lifestyle in just 10 days.
According to South China Morning Post, the 36-year-old man named "Chen" managed to convince five women to pay for his meals, clothes, and his latest smartphones, while he moved between luxurious places in the city.
The deception exploded after a woman named "Liu Qian" filed a complaint with the police in Putuo District, Shanghai, in August, explaining that she met the accused who pretended to be a nightclub owner.
Liu mentioned that she spent the previous day with Chen touring the city including restaurants and entertainment places, where he promised her 3,500 yuan in cash.
The next morning, Chen arrived at her house with a black plastic bag containing an amount estimated between 50,000 and 60,000 yuan, claiming that the money should be placed under the bed for "Feng Shui" reasons—a Chinese system believed to organize energy in the space affecting luck, money, and health.
He also told her that he would invest the money in the future, using it as a trick to make her believe his credibility and his false wealth.
When he left with an excuse of "making a call", Liu discovered that the bag actually contained fake training papers with some real cash only on the top and bottom.
Investigations revealed that Chen regularly moved to luxurious places with each woman separately, making them bear all expenses from food and drinks to hotels and taxis, exploiting their vision of the large cash he seemingly carried.
Chen also relied on a realistic simulation method through fake accounts in chat groups, advertising "high-paying escort opportunities," to attract women, showing them stacks of fake, deceptive money, and promises to pay the full amount later.
The police uncovered that if the young accused man did not find his next victim quickly, he was forced to spend the night on public park benches before heading out in the morning to find a new target.
In the end, Chen was arrested after consecutive reports, and it turned out that his new clothes and smartphone were all purchased with the women's money, while investigations are still ongoing in the case.
