China detains 140 suspects in social media fraud case

Chinese police has detained 140 suspects in a social media fraud scheme where they cheated male victims by swindling their money.

Police mounted four operations from May 5 to 12 in Dongguan City and Shenzhen to nab the suspects, who allegedly used social media to commit fraud, Shenzhen police said.

The suspects, organised as a pyramid scheme, registered WeChat and QQ accounts, sought male victims and swindled their money, it said in a statement.

The sum of money taken from the victims has not yet been published.

According to police documents, a victim, surnamed Liu, was cheated out of 8,000 yuan (about USD 1,200) after he befriended a stranger through the “shake your phone” function on WeChat.

Liu became emotionally involved with the purported female friend, who later borrowed money but soon disappeared, state-run Xinhua news agency reported today.