This article originally appeared on our sister website, Urban Family Shanghai.
By Yuzhou Hu
It is said that a man in uniform is hard to resist and a Shanghai woman has recently felt the reality of this. She was a lady 'looking for love' and her dream of marrying a US soldier ended when a conman fled with RMB1.2 million from her life's savings.
Zhang is 51 years old and lives alone in Pudong District. In July, when she decided to try her luck on a renowned Chinese dating website, a 'US soldier' caught her attention. "I'm currently serving in the US Army and will retire in two months," said the soldier who called himself Rickshaw Dosier. "I want to find a wife in China and settle down there," he continued to explain. Moved by Dosier's sincerity, Zhang communicated with him via an online translation service and quickly fell in love.
Nonetheless, it didn't take long before Zhang started to receive emails from the 'United Nations,' claiming that Dosier was injured in combat and had gone missing. She was told to pay several fees to cover his rescue and relocation if she wanted Dosier kept alive and transported to China to marry her.
The email from the 'United Nations' (translated.) Image via Sina
With her 'lover' in distress, Zhang complied without hesitation. She transferred more than RMB1.2 million to the account provided by the 'United Nations.' It was not until her savings were almost depleted that Zhang realized she might have fallen victim to fraud.
The email from the 'United Nations' (translated.) Image via Sina
Unsure of what to do, Zhang quickly rushed to the local police station. Fortunately, with police assistance, she successfully recovered RMB1 million. According to the investigation, both Rickshaw Dosier and the 'United Nations' were fictitious and the bank account they advised was actually from Guangdong Province.
Currently, the investigation is still underway. Despite the loss of approximately RMB200,000, Zhang is thrilled, saying the retrieved RMB1 million has rekindled her faith in life.
[Cover image via Pexels]
This article was originally published by our sister magazine Urban Family Shanghai. For more articles like this, visit the Urban Family website, or follow the Urban Family WeChat account (ID: urbanfamilyshanghai).
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