An ordinary-looking cafe in Hangzhou's Jianggan District was found to be running a complex online dating scam to defraud wealthy men.
The shop never seemed to have much business from passerby, but men accompanied by young women were often seen passing through. The police began to stake out the cafe in April and May after a number of customer complaints.
The prices on the cafe's menu were ridiculously expensive, the priciest item being an 1888 Yuan bottle of wine. The menu was mostly wine and simple fruit plates ranging from 388 Yuan to 1888 Yuan. The wine was very cheap, not worth much more than a bottle of soda.
The shop owner, Zhang, 40, had lived in Hangzhou in 10 years. He had previously owned a regular cafe, but then thought of a way to make money much faster.
Zhang recruited 10 men to pretend to be young women on WeChat, Momo, and other social media platforms. They would chat with men, and record their information, and economic status. Zhang would pick the best of the men to go on a “date” with one of the three or four beautiful women Zhang hired. The woman would insist on going to the cafe, where the men would be pressured to spend a small fortune and buy several bottles of thousand yuan wine.
The men who lured the dates in on WeChat received 10 to 15% of the profits as commission. The women who met up with the men would take 20 to 30%.
Zhang and his entire staff were arrested by Hangzhou police. Police found a total of 35 people involved in the scam. The cafe gang had cheated over 60 men while running their scam.
