Cartooned by Yao Wen
A divination master with superpowers, a strong Chinese-American women standing out in business circles, a fair lady ( or the so-called “rich blonde”, which means “white, rich and beautiful”) from decent family who worked in mysterious listed companies…... She played a variety of different acting roles and collected more than 14 million yuan from best friends and boyfriends in seven years.
Even today, there is no lack of fans for horoscope, numerology and geomancy. And all kinds of "masters" emerge in an endless stream. Some so-called "divination masters" are just swindlers under the banner of "divination", and the fortune telling is often a fraud carefully concocted for money. Recently, in a public prosecution case instituted by Huishan District Procuratorate in Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province, the defendant, a Ms. Sun, was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment and a fine of 80,000 yuan for defrauding her best friend and boyfriend of more than 14 million yuan, and she was ordered to return the stolen money.
Mysterious "Master"
"There is an ornament in your shop, which is not oriented well. Changing its position can attract more money."
"Your husband is not very ambitious. Do you still want to live with him in such a making-do way?"
The divination master impressed Chen with just a few words. Ms. Chen wan a "post-80s generation", running a maternal and infant supplies store in Wuxi City, with a well-off family. In 2015, Sun, who was pregnant, often visited the store, and they became familiar with each other. Under Sun’s recommendation, she got to know a divination master who claimed to be in Thailand with an “OK, why not” attitude. However, to her surprise, the “master” answered all her questions without hesitation, no matter what her question was. Furthermore, not only did the master reveal accurately all her personal information, family relationships and business situation, but also made clear and logical analyses on them. Chen was so startled by the master’s words that she paid hundreds of Yuan without hesitation.
After the trust was built, Chen accepted all suggestions proposed by the master. She spent around 8,000 Yuan on the “lucky” Buddha amulet, 20,000 Yuan on rituals for late relatives. Although the master didn’t show his real face in videos recording the performance of rituals at a local temple in Thailand, Chen trusted him even more.
In just half a year, besides hundreds of thousands of Yuan spent on the Master, Chen, under the guidance of the master, also gave 168,000 Yuan to Sun who “used it for investment”. Every time Chen gave money to the master, she was instructed by the master “to transfer it to Sun’s account first”, then Sun re-transferred it to the master. In this way, Chen transferred more than 720,000 Yuan to Sun in total.
During their chat, Chen learned that Sun had an elder sister working hard in the United States, and became a successful woman in the local business circle. And her elder sister was too busy to put in an appearance. But her elder sister was very “generous” to Chen, she helped Chen purchase branded watches and bags from overseas, asking Sun to give Chen two “property ownership certificates” as a token of appreciation for taking care of her younger sister. So, Chen was fully convinced that Sun being her “benefactor in life”.
As the relationship between Chen and Sun became increasingly close, Chen took Sun as her best friend, and recommended the “best friend” to her elder sister. Such an unintentional move make it possible for Sun to start another hoax.
An able woman of generosity
Chen’s elder sister, Chen Mouyi, was a successful entrepreneur with strong economic strength and busy with business. Out of curiosity, and recommended by her younger sister, Chen Mouyi sent a photo of herself to the master to practice physiognomy.
The master claimed to have “superpowers” that could help Chen Mouyi solve all kinds of problems, thus ensuring her business continue to grow. Thinking that it wouldn’t hurt to have a try, Chen Mouyi spent 210,000 Yuan on three bracelets as talismans from the master, and another 70,000 on two Buddha amulets to amass fortunes. The transaction was also handled by Sun in person. Even since she bought those bracelets and Buddha amulets, some business problems in Chen Mouyi’s factory had been smoothly solved and a new product under development had been successfully put on the market. Chen Mouyi couldn’t help but to show her respect to the master and kept consulting him about nearly everything, including what color of clothes to wear, what food to eat, what to do, etc. The master, of course, always gave best answers to every question, which made Chen Mouyi quite relieved and gradually, she even develop a strong feeling of dependence on the master.
In the first half of 2016, the master suddenly told Chen Mouyi that he suffered from terminal illness for divulging too many Heaven’s secrets to people. The master asked Chen Mouyi to help him, saying he would foretell fortunes for Chen Mouyi alone to ensure the prosperity of her business. Chen Mouyi didn’t have the heart to turn away from the master’s cry for help. So, she began to find ways to raise money for his treatment. Each time the master contacted her for “medical fees”, she would spend about ten or two hundred thousand yuan for things such as bone marrow replacement, recuperation, hiring medical experts, etc.
As her savings was about to run out, Chen Mouyi felt helpless and heartbroken to see there was no improvement on the master’s condition. Then, Sun advised Chen Mouyi to borrow money from her elder sister who was in the United States. So, Chen Mouyi sent a friend request on WeChat to Sun’s elder sister and got accepted. Sun’s sister treated Chen Mouyi with openness and directness, and agreed to lend her two million Yuan without any hesitation. But due to the troublesome formalities for international remittance, Sun’s sister said she would transfer money to Sun first and let Sun re-transfer them to the master. Although Chen Mouyi felt somehow it wasn’t the right way to handle the remittance, she had no better solution but to accept it. Soon after, the master sent a message to Chen Mouyi, saying that he had received two million yuan, and asking Chen Moyi to repay the money in monthly instalments. Without even going through her hand, Chen Mouyi was already two million yuan in debt.
Bad news came one after another. The master told Chen Mouyi on Wechat that his condition was deteriorating and he had to accept invitation from Sun’s sister, and go to the United States for treatment. Without money, Chen Mouyi asked Sun's sister for information about the master. The two of them eventually became friends who talked about everything.
In the second half of 2017, Chen Mouyi had completely lost contact with the master. Sun's sister also got stomach cancer and begged Chen Mouyi to pay for the treatment, promising to leave all her properties to Chen after death. Again, Chen Mouyi’s soft heart was touched, and she ran around to borrow money. However, the bottomless hole could never be fully filled, Chen Mouyi had to transfer tens of thousands of yuan to Sun's sister every month, losing almost everything.
In December 2021, Chen Mouyi could no longer afford the money, but the other party kept urging her. Then, Chen Mouyi calculated the total account of borrowing money over the years: She had spent more than 6.06 million yuan on the master, and spent more than 6.05 million yuan on Sun's sister. She began to doubt the identity of Sun’s sister, but her question like a pebble dropped into the sea. So, Chen Mouyi took the only photo of Sun’s sister, searched on the Internet, and was surprised to find out that the photo was actually a domestic “social media influencer”. She woke up suddenly, and reported the case to police immediately.
The “rich blonde” fiancée
Seven years, more than 12.83 million yuan... The experience of Chen sisters attracted the attention of the police, and they quickly locked in the recipient of these funds—Ms. Sun. In front of the evidence, Sun soon admitted the facts of how she swindled the Chen sisters out of a huge sum of money.
Originally, Ms. Sun, who graduated from a junior college, loved to read books about "metaphysics," such as horoscope, geomancy in her spare time, and knew that many girls were also curious about it. In 2015, Sun was pregnant and found that Ms. Chen, the owner of a maternal and infant supplies store, was also keen on geomancy. At that time, Sun’s husband and Ms. Chen were classmates at a junior high school. As their relationship became closer and closer, Sun got to know more and more about Chen’s business and family. When Chen mentioned casually she wanted to find a "master" to practice geomancy, Sun knew that her opportunity had come.
Sun ferreted out the Wechat account she had registered years ago, carefully packaged it, and then turned herself into a Chinese-born, Thai-trained divination master, who, “being recommended” to Ms. Chen. Surely enough, the store owner fell into the trap, while throwing out her own money, she also brought her sister into the pit, and the two girls being cheated for more than seven years.
"My fiancée, a rich blonde, has a wide range of contacts, often looking for relationships to help me in boosting my business..." When the case was transferred to the Huishan District Procuratorate for further investigation, Sun's current boyfriend Zhang's words attracted the attention of the prosecutors. Compared with the case of the Chen sisters, was it possible that Zhang also being a victim? The prosecutors listed the outline of supplementary investigation, guiding the investigative organs to dig deeper, and soon discovered new criminal facts.
In January 2021, after Sun’s divorce, she met a Mr. Zhang, who was engaged in decoration business. And they got engaged six months later. Sun’s daily consumption was very high, purchasing house, bags and frequently changing luxury cars. When Zhang heard that Sun had a girlfriend who was a female executive of a listed group and could help him boost business, Zhang immediately believed it. Sun asked Zhang for money in various names: buying gifts for the female executive at her birthdays, managing relationship in project bidding occasions; paying compensation for injured employees... Zhang was cheated more than 1.59 million yuan. "If you hadn't come to arrest her, I wouldn't have come to my senses." In the face of facts, Zhang could not help sighing with emotion.
"If the victim checks carefully, Sun’s fraud actually has flaws." The prosecutor said that “fabrications” such as the divination master, the sister in the United States, and the girlfriend of the listed company were all quite mysterious. They never had a video or voice chat with the victim, and the money was all transferred by Sun in person. The bracelets of Buddha that Sun sold to the Chens, were cheap goods which Sun had bought from the internet; as for the "real estate certificate", the house had not been built at all. Through daily contact with the victims, Sun learned information about their life and work step by step and then, providing emotional comforts to victims through fortune-telling, so as to carry out the fraud.
After the incident, the police found 66 women's bags of various types from Sun, and seized houses and vehicles. During the trial, Sun voluntarily pleaded guilty. After the prosecution filed by Huishan District Procuratorate in Wuxi City, the court made the above-mentioned judgment on Sun according to law.
