Wedding 'guest' list exposes years-long scam

China Plus Published: 2017-05-03 16:10:20
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A young man who hired around 100 people pretending to be his friends at his wedding is detained by police on fraud charges in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province, on Tuesday, May 2, 2017. [Photo: Shaanxi Broadcasting Corporation]

A young man who hired around 100 people pretending to be his friends at his wedding is detained by police on fraud charges in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province, on Tuesday, May 2, 2017. [Photo: Shaanxi Broadcasting Corporation]

A young man is being held in detention after a long-running scam the 20-year-old had allegedly been running on his girlfriend and her family was unraveled.

Police in Shaanxi's provincial capital, Xi'an, are holding the young man, surnamed Wang, on suspicion of fraud, after his bride became suspicious at their wedding on Sunday, reports the Shaanxi Broadcasting Corporation.

The bride, surnamed Li, reportedly became wary of her relationship after the roughly 100 guests the groom had 'invited' to the ceremony seemed to know virtually nothing about her partner.

After arrested by the police, the groom later admitted he hired the guests, paying them between 80 and 100 yuan (12-15$) each to attend the ceremony.

The 20-year-old also reportedly admitted to hiring others to act as his parents on numerous occasions during their 3 year relationship.

Wang had borrowed 1.25 million yuan from Li's family since 2015, saying he needed the money to purchase a vehicle, among other expenses, but he squandered the money instead.

Because the young man has not reached the legal age for marriage, which is 22 years old for men in China, the marriage itself was not registered.

Shaanxi Broadcasting Corporation is reporting Wang's real parents, who were unaware of the wedding, will pay back the 1.25 million yuan siphoned from the bride's family.

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