42-year-old woman pretends to be 28, cheats lover out of $1.2m in China

Ms Wang Jingjing reportedly achieved the makeover by layering on heavy makeup and altering her pictures with photo retouching apps. SCREENGRAB: YOUTUBE/THE BEIJING NEWS

A 42-year-old woman in China allegedly passed off as a 28-year-old and cheated her boyfriend out of 6 million yuan (S$1.2 million).

Ms Wang Jingjing reportedly achieved the makeover by layering on heavy makeup and altering her pictures with photo retouching apps, China news site Sina.com reported.

She had asked her lover, Mr Li Xiaoqing, 30, to transfer her batches of money from 2016 to end 2017, in a sum totalling 6 million yuan.

They had met while Ms Wang was working as a masseuse in 2015.

She claimed that she was using the money for "investments", and returned 1 million yuan to him as his "returns".

The incident occurred in the Pingshan district in China's south-east Shenzhen city.

It was uncovered by Mr Li's brother, Mr Li Daqing, who realised that a large sum of money was missing from the family business, Sina.com reported.

He made a police report on March 22.

The police initially had trouble locating Ms Wang, and Mr Li Daqing said she usually turned up dressed to the nines and wearing heavy makeup.

Police found Ms Wang in a rental flat in Buji sub-district in Shenzhen on April 3.

"If not for all the time I've spent researching and investigating her, I may not have recognised her when I saw her in the flesh," the investigating officer was quoted as saying by Sina.com.

According to her documents, Ms Wang was born in 1976 in Hubei province's Huanggang city.

She said she had lost a total of HK$6 million (S$1 million) while gambling in Macau last year.

Ms Wang is currently in police detention while the case is being investigated.

The police has reminded netizens to be rational when making friends and not be tricked into transferring money.

They also advised those who are cheated to call the police immediately.

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