‘It’s too bizarre’: Besotted Chinese woman conned out of US$287,000 in 12-year love scam by old friend with a grudge posing as famous TV news anchor

During a more than decade-long ‘romance’, the victim never met fake TV anchor once and said when she saw ‘him’ on screen it allayed any suspicions she had. Perpetrator cooked up the scam to take revenge on victim’s mother who told her she wasn’t pretty or rich enough to find a husband. — SCMP

A Shanghai woman has been conned out of nearly 2mil yuan (US$287,000 or RM1.26mil) in a love scam which lasted more than a decade perpetrated by an old friend with a grudge who posed as a well-known TV news anchor.

Mainland media reported that the victim, surnamed Li, was so besotted by the “celebrity” – who she never met over the whole 12-year period of their fake relationship – that she handed money over to “him”.