Woman Fakes Wedding, Scams Relatives Of Rs 12.8 Crore In Property Scheme

A Chinese woman staged a wedding with a man, whom she described as a rich real estate businessman to lure her relatives into cheap property deals. Forty-year-old Meng scammed at least five families of 12 million yuan, around Rs 12.8 Crores, The South China Morning Post reported.

Meng owned a small real estate business that failed in 2014, according to reports. To recover, she came up with a scheme to con her relatives. While looking for someone to stage a wedding, she proposed to a random car driver named Jiang, using the excuse that she needed to marry due to family pressure related to her age.

Meng told her relatives that Jiang was into the construction business and had connections that allowed them to acquire properties at discounted prices. To convince them, she also purchased a small flat worth 1 million yuan (Rs 11.6 crores) and sold it to her cousin at half the price.

She then asked him to lie to the relatives, saying that he had only paid half because Meng and Jiang had special business connections.

Meng also took her relatives to the showrooms of new residential complexes and promised a discount of 5,000 yuan (Rs 57,900) per square meter, almost 20% less than the original price. At least five relatives fell prey to the scam, handing over large sums of money to purchase apartments. Some even sold their apartments so they could move to a better property.

After procrastinating for years, claiming that it took time to set up the discount, Meng rented apartments for those relatives in 2018 and 2019, pretending they were the houses they had purchased.

She refused to provide them with a certificate of property ownership, saying obtaining one for discounted homes was "temporarily impossible."

One of the victims came to know about the fraud when she thought something was suspicious and inquired with the real estate developer, discovering the apartment she lived in was not hers. Another victim, Meng's cousin, had even spent over 100,000 yuan (Rs 11.6 lakh) furnishing and decorating a rented apartment.

A court sentenced Meng to 12 years and six months in prison for contract fraud.

Her fake husband, Jiang, received a six-year sentence as he signed the house-leasing contracts with the actual property owners. Her cousin, who lied to other family members to support the scam, was sentenced to five years.