A Chinese woman was apprehended after it came to light that she had posed as her friend’s internet boyfriend to deceive her into sending money.
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The scheme started after one of the women’s mother made a joke about marriages and financial troubles
The woman, identified as Ms. Li, was allegedly cheated for $290,000 over 12 years by her acquaintance Ms. Yu, who pretended to be a well-known TV host on social media, according to Shanghai police. Ms. Yu told the police that when she was younger, Ms. Li’s mother remarked on her, saying she wouldn’t be able to find a husband because she wasn’t attractive enough and didn’t have a solid financial history.
As reported by Oddity Central, Yu took the joke very seriously and plotted an act of revenge. She told Li’s mother that she was friends with a single, well-known TV host looking for a decent wife. In response, Li’s mother begged her to hook her daughter up with the fake date.
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Yu created multiple fake social media profiles of the TV host and messaged Li, which led to a 12-year relationship in which they didn’t meet in person. When Li wanted to meet her online boyfriend in person, Yu would come up with multiple excuses, including being busy with work, illness, or being too tired to meet up for a date.
However, she didn’t initially plan to defraud her friend. Still, when she started experiencing financial issues in 2018, Yu decided to continue the “relationship” even further by asking Li for money. The victim reportedly spent all her savings and wanted to confront the fake news anchor about the money. After feeling guilty, Yu confessed to Li and said she lied about knowing the news anchor, including creating fake social media profiles. She also hoped her former friend wouldn’t go to the police to discuss the crime.
Yu was arrested and charged with the scheme, and it is unclear when she will appear in court.
A similar incident happened between a mother and daughter after it was revealed the mother pretended to be a catfish
On Thursday, we reported that a Michigan mother was arrested and charged after officials discovered that she cyberbullied her daughter and her boyfriend. Initially, Kendra Licari,42, reported the “bullying” along with the boy’s mother to report a case about cyberbullying. However, the school district said the cyberbullying occurred off of school grounds.
“After authorities were stuck with no other options, they turned to FBI’s computer crime deviation in April and discovered a few months later that they believed Licari was involved in the cyberbullying. Superintendent William Chilman said in a statement that the FBI officials were able to track down the IP addresses used to send the messages to her daughter.”