Cat Lover Conned Out of 70,000 Yuan in “Free Pet” Scam

Cat Lover Conned Out of 70,000 Yuan in “Free Pet” Scam
Feb 19, 2016 By eChinacities.com

A middle aged woman named Ma was scammed out of 70,000 Yuan after trying to adopt a free cat online.  

Last year, Ma saw an ad online for a free adopted pet cat. The post featured photos of an adorable cat. Ma added the “owner” on QQ, who said that she was forced to give the cat away. She said Ma could have the cat for free if she paid all the costs related to logistics and transportation.

The owner provided Ma with the website of a company that could handle the logistics. Ma called the customer service number listed on the website. Customer support told Ma that she had to pay 200 Yuan in logistics costs, and needed to pay a 600 Yuan deposit. She would receive the deposit back once she received the cat.

In the next few days, the company’s customer support representative called back Ma and told her that the cat had gotten stuck in customs, and that Ma needed to send more money. Ma sent a total of 70,000 Yuan to three different accounts.

Ma soon realized that she had been scammed and called the police. Police figured out that the scammers were based in Zhanjiang, Guangdong and the gang was run by a suspect named Jiang.

Police arrested Jiang and four other suspects in Zhanjiang and seized their laptop computers, mobile phones, and bank cards.

Jiang confessed that he created ads for free cats and dogs as bait and created a fake logistics site to trick pet lovers. He said he could not remember how many people he had tricked, but his bank account with 3 to 4 million Yuan in it was seized by police.

The five suspects were arrested for fraud and are in criminal detention. The case is still under investigation.

Source: inews.qq.com

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Keywords: free cat adoption pet scam Zhanjiang

3 Comments

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Guest14250002

What a idiot woman ! I can't believe that Chinese women are so stupid, really.......... no more words to add about this ......

Feb 22, 2016 16:50 Report Abuse

silverbutton1

A fool and their money are easily parted...

Feb 19, 2016 21:05 Report Abuse

qadirjadoon

you mean a "tool"?

Feb 24, 2016 17:18 Report Abuse