Trusting an insurance agent, a victim not only purchased insurance and wealth management products to support the agent's sales performance but also handed over their phone for the agent to handle bill payments. Instead, they fell into a payment fraud trap: in 5, more than 200 million yuan was stolen from their bank card — this is an elderly-targeted fraud case recently cracked by authorities in Xuhui District, Shanghai. After being prosecuted by the Xuhui District People's Procuratorate, the Xuhui District People's Court sentenced the insurance agent, Yang, to 11 years and 9 months in prison for fraud, deprived of political rights for 4 years, and fined 30 yuan.
In 2020, Ms. Ge, a senior citizen over 60 years old, met insurance agent Mr. Yang. Mr. Yang was very warm and friendly, often visiting her to chat, cook meals together, and accompany her to medical appointments. This quickly built a close bond between them. Later, Mr. Yang pitched his insurance products to Ms. Ge. Moved by his situation—having raised his child alone after a divorce while balancing work and life—Ms. Ge decided to support him by purchasing an insurance product at the service center alongside him.
Later, Yang frequently promoted insurance and wealth management products to Auntie Ge, claiming that no visit to a branch was necessary—everything could be done via mobile phone. This put Auntie Ge in a difficult position: she and her husband were not familiar with using smartphones, their children lived abroad, and there was no one at home to assist them. Seeing this, Yang offered to operate the phone for her: transfer the funds to his own account first, then handle the payments for the insurance and wealth management products on her behalf. Trusting Yang, Auntie Ge handed over her phone for him to use and even let him register her mobile banking account.
In 2025 12, Aunt Ge's nephew discovered that, aside from insurance premium deductions, multiple large transfers had been made to Yang's account starting in 2021, with no corresponding records of insurance or wealth management product purchases. Preliminary estimates indicate the total amount exceeded 200 million yuan. Aunt Ge promptly contacted the insurance company and learned that she indeed had no such purchase records, and that Yang had already resigned in 2025 7. Despite this, Yang continued to visit her home under the pretext of renewing her insurance policy, operating her phone to process transfers. Realizing she had been defrauded, Aunt Ge immediately reported the case to the Xuhui District Public Security Bureau.
After being brought to justice, Yang confessed that she conceived the idea of defrauding Auntie Ge due to a lack of funds. To avoid arousing suspicion, Yang would sometimes lie to Auntie Ge about earning profits from investments and proactively pay for daily expenses or give small gifts to gain her trust. Feeling guilty, Yang immediately deleted all transfer records and chat logs after each transaction to minimize the risk of detection. Over the years, Yang defrauded Auntie Ge of over 200 million yuan, which she spent on luxury cars, gold jewelry, and other personal daily expenses.
