New Delhi: A Chinese woman orchestrated an elaborate property scam, tricking her own relatives out of 12 million yuan (approximately Rs 12.8 crore) by staging a fake wedding to make her scheme appear legitimate, according to a report by The South China Morning Post.
The accused, 40-year-old Meng, was once the owner of a small real estate business that collapsed in 2014. Desperate to recover financially, she devised a fraudulent plan targeting her own relatives. In search of a convincing cover story, she approached a random car driver named Jiang and convinced him to marry her, claiming she was under family pressure to settle down due to her age.
Meng then falsely presented Jiang as a wealthy businessman in the construction industry with exclusive access to discounted properties. To gain the trust of her relatives, she even purchased a small flat worth 1 million yuan (Rs 11.6 crore) and sold it to her cousin at half price, making it appear like a lucrative deal. She further instructed her cousin to mislead other family members, stating that the discounted price was possible due to her husband’s business connections.
To add credibility to her scheme, Meng took her relatives to real estate showrooms and promised them high-value properties at a discounted rate of 5,000 yuan (Rs 57,900) per square meter—nearly 20% lower than the market price. At least five families fell for the scam, handing over large sums of money in hopes of securing premium apartments at reduced rates. Some victims even sold their existing homes, expecting to upgrade to better properties.
However, Meng kept delaying the process, claiming it took time to finalize the discounted deals. To maintain the illusion, she rented apartments for the victims in 2018 and 2019, falsely presenting them as the homes they had purchased. When her relatives requested property ownership documents, she dismissed their concerns, saying it was “temporarily impossible” to obtain them due to the discounted nature of the deal.
The fraud came to light when one of the victims grew suspicious and directly contacted the real estate developer, only to discover that the apartment she was living in did not belong to her. Another victim, Meng’s cousin, had unknowingly spent over 100,000 yuan (Rs 11.6 lakh) on furnishing and decorating a rented apartment, believing it was his own.
Following a legal trial, Meng was sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison for contract fraud. Her fake husband, Jiang, who signed lease agreements with actual property owners, received a six-year prison sentence. Additionally, Meng’s cousin, who played a role in deceiving other family members, was sentenced to five years behind bars.
Source : NDTV
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