A Man in Nanchang Cleverly Disguised Himself, Scammed Over 3 Million Yuan from Many People and Left, Later Arrested by the Police in Zhongshan City
In September of last year, a woman named Pan Juan from Nanchang was driving in Honggutan when her car was hit by a Volvo. Although it was just a slight scrape, the driver courteously took Pan Juan to repair her car and invited her to his company for tea and a meal. This is how they got to know each other. In the following months, Pan Juan lent 408,000 yuan to the owner of the car.
Chen Mou, a man from Nanchang, under the alias of Chen Bohan, established connections with others through such accidental encounters. Subsequently, he borrowed over 3 million yuan from multiple victims on the pretext of starting a business partnership and needing funds for capital turnover before fleeing far away. Recently, this highly skilled swindler was arrested by the Economic Investigation Brigade of the Qingshanhu Public Security Bureau in Guangdong Province. Yesterday, a journalist conducted an interview regarding this matter.
Easily Scammed Over 400,000 Yuan
One morning in September of last year, Pan Juan, who works at a certain company in Nanchang, went to an office in Honggutan to handle some affairs. After finishing her tasks and preparing to leave, suddenly her car was hit by a Volvo that was reversing. Although it was just a minor scrape, the owner of the car apologized politely and took Pan Juan to his "own" repair shop to fix her car.
At a repair shop in Qinghu Commerce Plaza, Pan Juan's car was repaired. The owner of the Volvo apologized again and invited her to visit his company, which was located next to the repair shop - a company named "De Xi" that produces and sells multifunctional storage boxes. The owner of the Volvo introduced himself as Chen Bohan, born in 1967, dressed like an artist, polite, and eloquent. Chen Bohan invited Pan Juan for tea and a meal as an apology. Pan Juan, seeing that her car was fixed and that Chen Bohan was very courteous, put aside her guard. After a few interactions, they became acquainted.
In Pan Juan's eyes, Chen Bohan not only had substantial financial resources but also spent generously, making him seem like someone who did big business. In January and April of this year, Chen Bohan borrowed a total of 400,000 yuan from Pan Juan on the pretext of needing funds for capital turnover, with an agreed monthly interest rate of 4%. Subsequently, he borrowed another 8,000 yuan from Pan Juan for renovations. By the end of June, Pan Juan discovered that Chen Bohan was no longer at the company. After July 9th, his phone was turned off, causing Pan Juan to panic.
"Accidentally" Scammed Over 3 Million Yuan from Many People
Through such accidental encounters, Pan Juan lost over 400,000 yuan, but what she didn't know was that Chen Bohan used this method to scam a total of 3,008,000 yuan from multiple victims.
Han Jun from a certain agency in Nanchang was the person scammed for the largest amount. Han Jun's acquaintance with Chen Bohan was also filled with coincidences. Han Cheng, Han Jun's nephew, was the real boss of the repair shop next to Chen Bohan's company. Han Cheng met Chen Bohan by chance. Afterwards, Chen Bohan, citing Han Cheng's good character and proactive attitude, showed great appreciation for him. He was extremely generous, not only helping Han Cheng rent a store and pay the deposit, but also entrusting all his cars to Han Cheng's repair shop for maintenance without regard for cost. He even spent money renovating Han Cheng's home and allowed him to become a free shareholder of the "De Xi Company," leading Han Cheng to believe that Chen Bohan was very wealthy and generous. Even when Chen Bohan introduced the repair shop as his own, Han Cheng turned a blind eye and often praised Chen Bohan to people around him.
As Han Jun visited his nephew Han Cheng's repair shop more frequently, he got to know Chen Bohan. Although Han Cheng was one of the few people Chen Bohan knew who wasn't scammed, Han Jun wasn't so lucky. From September to December 2009, Han Jun was scammed out of 2 million yuan by Chen Bohan, becoming the most severely victimized person.
In fact, in Chen Bohan's "borrowing network," most were people he met by chance. These included employees and shareholders of the "De Xi Company," broadband installation workers, plumbers, and even the landlord of his younger brother's restaurant, totaling about seven or eight people. The investigating officers sighed to the journalist, stating that Chen Bohan was particularly cunning, always managing to ensnare those unrelated individuals.
"Showboating" with Lavish Spending
In Chen Bohan's fraud network, many believed in his wealth and thought he was someone who did big business. It wasn't until after Chen Bohan lived in Nanchang for over two years and calmly left for a month that people realized they had been scammed. What Chen Bohan relied on was his eloquence and lavish spending.
According to Chen Bohan's confession, to maintain appearances, he successively purchased a Volvo, a Renault, a Mercedes-Benz, and two Dongfeng Nissan cars (all second-hand). Moreover, to demonstrate his wealth, he spared no expense in maintaining the vehicles and even gave a Dongfeng Nissan to Han Jun for use. Additionally, Chen Bohan claimed he spent over 150,000 yuan with Han Jun and invited them both to travel in Shaanxi and Ningxia. During these trips, Chen Bohan often disappeared, claiming he needed to bribe leaders of the provincial public security bureau, and stated that the police equipment business in both places was all done by him.
Besides boasting about his fictitious police equipment business, Chen Bohan also tried to develop a "diverse industry." He claimed to have opened a beauty salon on Die Shan Road, a bookstore at Vanke, produced and sold multifunctional storage boxes, and even said he owned a sand quarry. When Chen Bohan confessed to the police, he clearly stated: "Doing all these things was just to show off, making others think I was wealthy, so it would be easier to scam money." According to the police, Chen Bohan once used the alias Chen Baoluo, claiming to be a "returned overseas student," and defrauded people in Beijing for many years. He was investigated by the Beijing police in 2006.
Escaped to Zhongshan City and Was Arrested by the Police
Perhaps due to the unsustainable nature of covering up one debt with another, or perhaps because Chen Bohan felt he had gained enough and it was time to stop, he left Nanchang at the end of June this year, and his mobile phone was turned off on July 9th.
According to Chen Bohan's confession, after leaving Nanchang, he went to Henan and Liaoning provinces. He originally planned to hide in Shenyang and continue his scams but dared not stay due to various reasons. He then went to Guangdong and placed his daughter in a key middle school in Zhuhai. He himself concealed his true identity using his younger brother's first-generation ID card. On July 19th, after receiving reports from the victims, the Economic Investigation Brigade of the Qingshanhu Public Security Bureau conducted meticulous investigations and finally confirmed that Chen Bohan was hiding in Zhongshan City under an alias. On October 25th, with the cooperation of relevant departments, the police arrested the suspect Chen Bohan in Xiaolan Town, Zhongshan City.
After interrogation, Chen Bohan confessed to the allegations of fraud. Currently, the suspect has been criminally detained, and the case is being reviewed by the procuratorate for approval of arrest. Written by Zhu Gang, reporter Huang Pujiang (All names involved are aliases).