Chinese man suspected of fraud after allegedly writing IOU with disappearing ink

A man in eastern China is suspected of fraud after he allegedly signed an IOU for a loan for 110,000 yuan (HK$126,135) using ink that quickly faded, mainland media reports.

The man, surnamed Ru, had borrowed more than 120,000 yuan since 2013 from his friend, surnamed Ruan, and repaid 10,000 yuan in May 2015 and requested a new receipt, which he allegedly signed using the disappearing ink, the Qianjiang Evening News reported.

The report said Ru had taken the initiative to contact Ruan and discuss the repayment on May 20 last year after he repeatedly deferred payments.

Ru signed a receipt for 110,000 yuan to replace an earlier receipt written in 2014 and also applied his fingerprint to the document.

Ruan took the IOU but soon noticed the writing on the receipt was fading, and then disappeared after about an hour, leaving only Ru’s fingerprints on the paper.