PUBLISHED ONJuly 04, 2023 10:33 AMByAshwini BalanA man in China who fleeced eight woman out of more than 3 million yuan (S$561,086) found himself stuck on a window ledge located on the 23rd floor after he tried to escape from one of his victims.
The man, surnamed Nie, befriended his victims on an online dating site where he posed as an entrepreneur who owned a successful home renovation company in Hefei, east China's Anhui province, reported South China Morning Post.
News outlet Sichuan Observation reported that the transcripts of his online conversations from 2019 to 2023, showed Nie transferring thousands of yuan to the women in an attempt to gain trust.
And once trust was established, he started borrowing money from the women and when it was time to repay, he gave them excuses.
One of the excuses that he told the victim was: "The company account cannot transfer such a large sum of money at once."
When one of his victims doubted his affluence, he replied: "I have said it thousands of times. If I don't have the money, would I be talking about buying a house?"
One of his victims, surnamed Zhang, soon found him suspicious and ran out of patience while waiting for his repayment of the 300,000 yuan he owed her.
Desperate to escape, Nie tried to flee from his unit window despite being on the 23rd floor of the building.
Trapped on the ledge of the window, Nie had no choice but to call the police for help.
Since then, Nie has been placed in custody while the case is under investigation.
Netizens were shocked upon hearing the news with one user even asking: "What charm does this man have to make several women lend him millions?"
"He really dug himself into a hole," said another.
Just a month ago, a similar incident happened to a man in his thirties where he was scammed $110,000 by his online 'girlfriend'.
The Singaporean divorcee, who only wanted to be identified as A, told 8world: "She appeared at a time when I felt the most helpless. She showed concern for me, and said she would accept my two children."
As such, when she asked him for $500 to sign up for a gold-trading platform, he didn't think twice.
And in the course of four months, he transferred about $110,000 to his online 'girlfriend'.
To avoid falling for these scams, the police advise members of the public to exercise caution when befriending strangers online, and not to send money to strangers.
Members of the public can visit the Scam Alert website, or call the Scam Hotline at 1800-722-6688 for more information.
ALSO READ:
No part of this story or photos can be reproduced without permission from AsiaOne.