Influencer calls elderly woman ‘mum’, uses emotion to scam her of over ₹62 lakhs | Trending

A Chinese influencer has been sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison after scamming an elderly woman out of 560,000 yuan (approximately ₹62.32 lakhs) pretending to be her son and spinning fake emotional stories. The scammer, identified as Mao, used his platform, where he had 42,000 followers, to exploit the woman’s loneliness over a two-year period, reported the South China Morning Post. The livestreamer pretended to be the son of the Shanghai woman.(Pexel) The victim, a Shanghai woman in her 70s surnamed Tang, was unmarried and childless. Her niece, Jiang, discovered in 2022 that Tang had been transferring large sums of money to a stranger. Mao, who claimed to help peasants sell slow-moving products and ass people in need, first gained Tang’s trust through his live streams, where she initially sent small gifts. In 2021, Mao tricked Tang into buying illegitimate health products. He later added her personal contact and began calling her “mum.” Mao greeted her daily like a devoted son and eventually began borrowing money, citing fabricated reasons such as stomach cancer, his girlfriend needing an abortion, and his father’s serious illness. Tang, deeply moved his affection, even borrowed money herself to send to him. When relatives confronted her about the loans and suggested involving the police, Tang resed, even threatening to “jump off the building.” However, she grew suspicious when Mao’s messages became infrequent. In a bid to regain her trust, he drove over 1,000 kilometres to visit her and filmed videos of their meeting with music praising a mother’s love. Later, he told her to stop contacting him, accusing her of not trusting him. Tang finally went to the police at the end of 2023. Investigators discovered that Mao used four accounts regered under different identities to chat with her. They tracked him down thanks to a photo Tang had taken of his car regration plate during his visit. Held and sentencedPolice arrested Mao, and prosecutors charged him with scamming Tang out of 560,000 yuan. Mao was sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison and fined 100,000 yuan (US$14,000). Judge Yu Huohai noted the harsher sentence was due to Mao targeting an elderly person. Tang, who lives alone on a 4,000-yuan (US$550) monthly pension, was left owing 70,000 yuan (US$9,500) and must repay 3,000 yuan monthly. Despite her struggles, she rejected the court’s offer to help her apply for judicial assance. Her niece revealed that Tang lost 10 kilograms in six months, feeling ashamed of being scammed her “son.” The case has drawn attention to the vulnerability of elderly internet users. Reports indicate that many key opinion leaders (KOLs) invent fake stories to exploit lonely seniors. As of June last year, China had 1.1 billion internet users, with 20.8% aged 60 and older. Judge Yu emphasised the importance of this case as a warning for elderly internet users and younger people who may overlook their parents’ emotional needs. “My parents also believed in this kind of fake stories and bought home fake products. I told her many times they were fake, but she would not believe me,” one online observer commented. Another said, “The platforms should enhance supervision of their KOLs, and we should pay more attention to our parents’ mental health.” Also read: 31-year-old Chinese man rescued from Myanmar scam centre after viral social media post