It is reported that Mr Zhou, a middle-aged Chinese man from Xuchang in the country’s Henan province, had been cultivating watermelons in Myanmar in a bid to raise money to start a family.
According to odditycentral.com, despite being away for a long time, he was still in contact with his friend, Xiao Li and confessed to him last year that his watermelon farming was lucrative and he was now ready to settle down with a good woman.
Xiao Li then told Zhou that his wife had a good friend who might be a good wife for him, so he would work it out for him.
Since Zhou was living abroad, he and the supposed lady in question decided on online dating until he returned to China.
“About three months into their online relationship. Mr Zhou’s online girlfriend told him that her brother had been in a terrible accident on a construction site and that she desperately needed 5,000 yuan ($730) for medical expenses. Thinking that it wasn’t too much money, Zhou agreed to send it to her, but only a few weeks later, she once again asked for money, claiming that her father was sick. He ended up sending her over 80,000 yuan ($11,650) over the course of a year,” odditycentral.com reports.
Then earlier this year, unsuspecting Zhou told his friend Xiao Li that his relationship with his wife’s friend was going smoothly and he was planning to return to China to marry her.
Xiao Li who sounded happy about Zhou’s plans however called him back later to tell him that he must have been scammed and that the lady he was dating online was his wife.
“You seem to have been cheated on, your girlfriend is my wife!” Xiao Li told Zhou in a phone call.
He explained that he discovered his wife’s shenanigans on her Douyin (TikTok) account, and she has since left his house without saying a word.
Xiao Li then pleaded with Zhou not to report the matter to the police. Promising that he would return all the money he had been defrauded of to him in instalments.
But after failing to hour his pledge, making Zhou suspect foul play, he decided to file a complaint with authorities.
It remains unclear if Xiao Li had a hand in or knew about the entire con.