Couple involved in prostitution fraud arrested
A couple who allegedly made more than 60,000 yuan (US$9,070) from defrauding victims with false advertisements of sexual services since May were arrested, police said yesterday.
The couple, from Xingtai city of Hebei Province, hired people in Shanghai, Beijing, Jiangsu Province and Hainan Province to distribute leaflets with a picture of a seductive woman and a mobile phone number.
The people who rang the number were told to make an upfront payment of 400 yuan. But after making the payment, they did not receive the service promised. Instead, they received calls asking for further payments.
Police in Qingpu District began investigating the case last month when the advertisements appeared in many places in the district.
It was unclear how many people were cheated.
A typical piece of advertisement card the couple hired people to distribute found on the ground somewhere in Qingpu District.
One of the victims, a man surnamed Wang, reported to the police on November 7 that he was asked to pay 400 yuan for the service but then another 500 yuan as “deposit money,” which made him suspicious that it could be a fraud, police said.
With the help of Hebei police, Qingpu police caught the couple on the early morning of November 23.
The male suspect, surnamed Xing, is under detention, and his wife is placed under coercive measures for crimes.
