Duo held for defrauding Shanghai residents with food offers

Credit: Ti Gong

Caption: The suspects, a 23-year-old man surnamed Zhou (left) and a 24-year-old man surnamed Xie

Two men from southeast China's Jiangxi Province have been nabbed for allegedly defrauding residents in Shanghai with food offers on WeChat, Qingpu District police said on Thursday.

Police in the suburban district started an investigation on April 22 after a resident reported being cheated while buying food in a WeChat group.

Group-buying has become popular in Shanghai during the citywide lockdown which has been lasting for weeks.

Someone in the group claimed to be offering vegetables, fruits, meat products and rice at reasonable prices to residents of Qingpu and Songjiang districts, but after the orders were placed, nothing was ever delivered, police revealed.

The suspects behind the fraud, a 23-year-old man surnamed Zhou and a 24-year-old man surnamed Xie from Shangrao City in Jiangxi, were soon identified.

The duo allegedly established the WeChat group on April 18 and posted its QR code in several local groups to hook people, but they had no products to offer.

The two allegedly made more than 10,000 yuan (US$1,512) from the fraud, and have returned about 2,000 yuan to the victims so far, police said.