BEIJING (SCMP): A fashion influencer with three million followers says her personal assistant is a con artist who stole her online profiles and pretended to be a student at Harvard University.
The influencer Chen Xin, who uses the handle @Daxin-kissis, accused her assistant of six years of faking an identity of a rich young Chinese woman studying at Harvard Medical School on January 24.
The woman, surnamed Jiang, allegedly used her employer’s password to enter her home, wore her luxury clothes, including stockings and pyjamas, and used her belongings for photographs.
Jiang also posted photographs Chen took but did not use for her own social media account, using artificial intelligence (AI) to replace Chen’s body with her own and sporting a heavily beautified face.
The woman is based in eastern China’s Zhejiang province and has never been abroad, also allegedly stole photographs of overseas student and changed her IP address to pretend she was studying in the United States.
Jiang also held a live-stream on the theme of “intelligent woman’s growth” in January, reportedly earning 1.14 million yuan (US$164,000) from tips.
Chen said she discovered her assistant’s account after a stranger messaged to warn her.
The observer said Jiang claimed she was Chen’s sister after some people spotted that it was Chen’s home in her photographs.
Jiang even sent the location of Chen’s home to prove to her followers that she was her sister and dated people online using Chen’s identity.
Chen then discovered that the account had already blocked her. She used her friend’s account to check out the page and was shocked to discover the fraud.
The influencer said Jiang had been faking her identity for two and a half years. She had worked as her personal assistant for six years.
Chen said Jiang approached her as a fan, begging her to lend her money so she could have independence from her poor family.
She instead offered a job to the woman who had only graduated from junior secondary school. This would mean she had a steady source of income while she studied new media skills.
Chen said she unreservedly taught Jiang skills, only asked her to work 15 days a month and allowed her to do part-time jobs.
When Jiang asked for leave to look after her father who suffered injuries in a fall last month, Chen also transferred her money.
The influencer said she felt severely betrayed. She confronted Jiang, who admitted that she “did something wrong out of vanity”.
She initially planned not to hold Jiang legally responsible, only demanding she openly apologise on her account and refund the tips she made from her fraudulent live-stream.
At first, Jiang agreed with the plan, then went back on her word, blacklisted Chen and denied all the accusations except for “having used a few of Chen’s photographs and worn her clothes”.
Chen has now publicly issued a lawyer’s letter to Jiang, accusing her of infringing her right of portrait, reputation and privacy. Jiang may also have committed the crimes of embezzlement and fraud.
Chinese online observers have been shocked by the case, comparing Jiang with Anna Sorokin, the notorious con artist who convinced the New York upper class that she was a German heiress.
Sorokin was convicted of scamming US$275,000 from banks, hotels and rich New Yorkers.
“She was so vain that she worked so hard to pretend to be someone else, and so stupid to ignore the fact that nothing remains a secret on the internet,” one said.
“I am shocked that she went as far as using AI to steal her employer’s photographs,” said another. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
