By Zhao Lei of the Morning Post, with contributions from correspondents Cao Xiaohang and Zhu Yimin
A middle-aged woman, Wang, who appeared honest at first glance, used four fake bank certificates of deposit totaling nearly 18 billion US dollars to transform herself into a billionaire worth over a hundred billion US dollars, deceiving many people in the process. In reality, this female "tycoon" was actually a farmer, and her purpose was to deceive others for free meals and drinks, although it would be better if she could also swindle some money.
Claiming to have inherited a huge fortune
Ms. Fan is the legal representative of a Beijing-based elderly products sales company. Last June, she was raising funds everywhere to build an old-age apartment complex. During her search, she met Wang, a 45-year-old woman from Henan province, through an investment company.
Wang looked honest at first glance, but as soon as she opened her mouth, she stunned everyone around her. She claimed to be a billionaire who had recently inherited a huge fortune, including bank certificates of deposit amounting to hundreds of billions of US dollars. However, these certificates were unable to be cashed out due to a lack of foreign exchange quotas.
During the conversation, Wang showed Ms. Fan a certificate of deposit worth 500 million US dollars issued by a Shanghai branch of a certain bank. "If you can find a way to cash it out, you can invest in building the apartments. However, my condition is that I become the legal representative of your company and hold 51% of the shares." Seeing Ms. Fan's half-belief, Wang then produced three other bank certificates of deposit with varying amounts. "To cash out these certificates, you must go to the opening bank in Shanghai and also provide proof of source of funds, tax completion certificates, and inheritance tax certificates. Since I don't have these documents, you'll need to resolve this."
For all this, Ms. Fan was actually inexperienced, but eager to secure funding, she didn't think much about it and agreed. Both parties signed an agreement where Wang voluntarily committed to unfreezing four time deposit certificates totaling 17.8 billion US dollars from her account at the Shanghai branch of a certain bank, donating them as investment capital for the old-age apartment project.
Ms. Fan immediately informed Mr. Liang, a Guangdong businessman doing construction work in Beijing, of this "good news." Mr. Liang was responsible for the architectural engineering of the old-age apartment project. At this point, Wang promised that once the certificates were successfully cashed out, she would give Mr. Liang a 2% commission.
In addition to Ms. Fan and Mr. Liang, another person deceived by this unexpected "windfall" was actor Mr. Shang. Previously, Mr. Shang had met this female "rich lady" Wang during a performance. Hearing that Mr. Shang was raising funds to shoot a movie, Wang confidently stated that she could cash out the bank certificates by constructing old-age apartments, saying, "Just take out a small portion to cover your filming costs."
Bank inquiry exposes the scam
In April this year, Wang led Ms. Fan, Mr. Liang, Mr. Shang, and a group of others to Shanghai to "cash out the certificates." To express gratitude, Ms. Fan covered all of Wang's expenses for food, accommodation, and transportation while in Shanghai.
On April 13th, based on Wang's commission, Mr. Liang took a 500 million US dollar bank certificate under Wang's name to the bank for inquiry and applied to print the bank statement. The staff noticed something suspicious and immediately reported it to the police. Soon, the police arrested Wang in the hotel and seized three other fake certificates totaling 12.8 billion US dollars.
Upon realizing her scam was uncovered, Wang confessed that these certificates were purchased from someone else in Shenzhen for several ten thousand yuan. Her intention was simply to intimidate people and gain some benefits. Apart from deceiving Ms. Fan for free meals and drinks, she also swindled a considerable amount of "financing collateral fees" from other businessmen eager to raise funds.
It was learned yesterday that Wang has been prosecuted by the municipal procuratorate for suspected forgery and alteration of financial instruments.