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, Auntie Ge, a senior citizen over 60, met insurance agent Yang. Yang was extremely warm and friendly, often visiting Auntie Ge to chat, cook meals together, and accompany her to medical appointments. This quickly built a close bond between them. Later, Yang pitched their own insurance products to Auntie Ge. Moved by Yang's situation—having raised a child alone after divorce while juggling work and life—Auntie Ge decided to support Yang by purchasing an insurance product at the branch office alongside them.
Later, Yang frequently promoted insurance and wealth management products to Aunt Ge, claiming she didn't need to visit a branch office—everything could be done on her phone. This put Aunt Ge in a difficult position: she and her husband were not tech-savvy, their children lived abroad, and no one at home was available to help. Seeing this, Yang offered to operate the phone for her, transferring funds into her own account first before paying the insurance and investment fees on Aunt Ge's behalf. Trusting Yang, Aunt Ge handed over her phone for him to use and even let him register her mobile banking app.
In 2025 year 12 month, Aunt Ge's nephew discovered that in addition to insurance premium deductions, multiple large transfers had been made to Yang's account since 2021, with no corresponding records of insurance or wealth management product purchases. The total amount was preliminarily estimated at over 200 million yuan. Aunt Ge promptly contacted the insurance company and confirmed that she indeed had no purchase records for such amounts and that Yang had already resigned in 2025 year 7 month. Yet even after his resignation, Yang continued to visit her home under the pretext of renewing her insurance policy and operated 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 admitted that she devised a scheme to defraud Aunt Ge of money due to financial need. To avoid arousing suspicion, Yang occasionally lied to Aunt Ge about investment profits and would either pay for daily expenses or give small gifts to gain her trust. Out of guilt, Yang immediately deleted all transfer records and chat logs after each transaction to minimize the risk of discovery. Over the years, Yang defrauded Aunt Ge of more than 200 million yuan, which she used to purchase luxury cars, gold jewelry, and cover other personal expenses.
Source: Xinmin Evening News
Edited by: Chen Xiao, Fu Ziqing
