A Chinese woman has recently been charged with fraud for deceiving three men into marrying her in staged ceremonies, despite already being legally married.
The 35-year-old woman, known only as Zhou, was already married and raising a daughter when she decided to target other men for her fraudulent schemes.
It is unclear what motivated Zhou to lead this double life, as her husband had a successful business and the family was financially stable. One contributing factor may have been the lack of attention from her real husband, who was often busy with work.
Zhou managed to manipulate three unsuspecting men by dating them simultaneously and eventually convincing them to marry her. To avoid the legal issues of being married to multiple men, Zhou lied to her new husbands, claiming that she needed to remain single in order to receive compensation for her allegedly demolished house.
Her elaborate scheme involved hiring actors to play the roles of friends and family members during the wedding ceremonies, creating the illusion of a happy and legitimate marriage. Zhou’s main motivation behind these marriages was to collect gifts and money from the guests.
The fraudster’s elaborate scheme began to unravel when she tried to extort money from one of her fake husbands by faking a pregnancy with twins. The man became suspicious and eventually discovered Zhou’s web of lies, leading to her arrest and subsequent divorce from her real husband.
Zhou now faces a minimum of 10 years in prison for defrauding her three fake husbands out of nearly $92,000. The investigation revealed the extent of her deception and the financial losses incurred by the victims.
