Chinese man poses as doctor, dupes girlfriend of ₹3 crore

A man in China was found guilty of fraud after tricking his girlfriend out of 2.6 million yuan (about ₹ 3 crore) by posing as a physician at a renowned hospital. Zhang, who was formerly working at a hotel, was fined 250,000 yuan (about Rs. 29, 22, 396) and given an 11-year, six-month prison sentence for his acts.

The specific dates of the occurrences were not disclosed when the court released the case’s contents to the public in May. The South China Morning Post said that Zhang started the fraud in 2016 after getting to know Huang, his girlfriend who worked at a mall.

Zhang presented himself as an obstetrician-gynecologist at a renowned Shanghai hospital during their six-year romance. In addition, he declared that he was a graduate of a Chinese medical school of distinction. He painted a convincing picture of a “successful professional,” and Huang never challenged his story. Three months after their first meeting, they began dating.

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Zhang’s practice of putting off Huang’s pleas to visit him at the hospital, citing a busy schedule full of clinical exams or procedures, was one possible red flag, though. They started going on dates frequently on the hospital lawn as their relationship grew.

However, Zhang became addicted to gambling by November 2016 and racked up large debt. He began stealing money from Huang on the guise of investing in a house, but he really used it for debt repayment and gambling. Huang gave Zhang more than 2.6 million yuan during their romance.

Concerns were raised by Huang’s family when Zhang started to withhold the money. Huang eventually became upset with the state of affairs and checked to see if Zhang was working at the hospital. To his surprise, Zhang was not.

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The prosecution stated throughout the trial, “Love is beautiful, but one must also be wary of sweet traps.”

Following the social media virality of the case information, Huang received a lot of sympathy from users. One user wrote, ‘‘She was too blinded by love.’’