China online racket using fake ethnic minority influencers to peddle bogus sob stories broken up by police
- One woman racketeer pretends to be orphan who raised siblings
- Amasses nearly 4 million followers before online sleuths, police snare her
A sophisticated fake online followers racket has been broken up by police in China, landing eight fraudsters in jail.
Police in the southwestern province of Sichuan Chinese uncovered the fraud after people online expressed doubts about the story of a young woman who had amassed nearly 4 million followers by faking a story about her being from an ethnic minority and having a difficult life.
The 21-year-old, who used the pseudonym “Liangshan Mengyang”, said she came from the impoverished and mountainous Liangshan region in Sichuan and claimed she had raised her siblings herself after the death of her parents.
She said she sold “organic mountain products” to make money and posted videos of herself in ragged clothes in front of a crumbling home, projecting a narrative of tragedy while facing life with a smile.
She rose to fame in 2018 and eventually amassed 3.86 million followers.
Liangshan Mengyang’s narrative endeared her to many online and she quickly leveraged her follower count to venture into live streaming selling “local specialities” such as walnuts, edible bird’s nest and safflower from her “homeland”.
In one live stream set against a snowy backdrop, she promoted walnuts.
“The walnut shells are thin, and the flesh is thick and tasty. If you use the money you’ve spent on gifts to help me buy walnuts, my purchases will support many uncles, aunts, and local people here, do you understand?” she said.
Her live streams tapped into a growing interest in the Great Liangshan Mountains and people’s desire to aid local farmers. Her much touted “special agricultural products” consistently sold out.
However, suspicions were aroused after she became a celebrity.
Some people questioned whether edible bird’s nest and safflower are Liangshan specialities, while others discovered that the return addresses of their orders were not in Liangshan.
Online sleuths uncovered that her parents were still alive and her lifestyle was far from the poverty-stricken one she portrayed.
Her fraud was further exposed as she was frequently seen wearing designer clothes and visiting high-end venues.
This prompted an official investigation by the Zhaojue County Public Security Bureau, which subsequently exposed a vast fraud organised by a multi-channel network agency, Chengdu Aowei Culture Media Co., Ltd.
The company operated the entire business chain, from creating personas, writing scripts, recruiting and nurturing internet celebrities, and creating content.
Their goal was to exploit every possible avenue to monetise their stars.
The police also revealed that the so-called “organic agricultural products” were mostly sourced from wholesale markets in the capital city of Sichuan province, Chengdu.
The racket had generated revenue exceeding 30 million yuan (US$4.15 million) and profits of more than 10 million yuan (US$1.4 million).
“The company would purchase the walnuts for about five yuan per half a kilogram, while the selling price to customers ranged from 10 to 13 yuan,” the police told state broadaster CCTV.
“Liangshan Mengyang” was just one of several internet personalities involved in the scam.
Eventually, a court in southwest China sentenced eight people to between 9 and 14 months in prison and fined them between 20,000 (US$2,800) to 100,000 yuan (US$13,800).
The public applauded the cracking of the case.
One online observer said: “I intended to support local farmers by purchasing their products, each time only to be more severely swindled.”
“Exploiting lies and deception for sympathy and traffic should be heavily punished!” said another.
