Relying on 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 mobile phone for bill payments. Instead, they fell into a payment scam trap, losing over 200 million yuan from their account in 5. This was one of several elderly-targeted fraud cases recently cracked by Xuhui authorities. Following prosecution by the Xuhui District People's Procuratorate, the Shanghai Xuhui District People's Court sentenced the insurance agent, Yang, to 11 years and 9 months in prison for fraud, deprived him of political rights for 4 years, and imposed a fine of 30 yuan.
In 2020, Auntie Ge, a senior citizen in her sixties, met insurance agent Mr. Yang. Mr. Yang was extremely friendly, frequently visiting to chat with her, and occasionally helped cook or accompanied her to medical appointments. This quickly built a close rapport between them. Later, Mr. Yang pitched his own insurance products to Auntie Ge. Learning that he was divorced and raising a child alone while facing challenges in both work and life, she decided to support him by purchasing an insurance policy at the branch office alongside him.
Later, Yang frequently promoted insurance and wealth management products to Auntie Ge, claiming that she didn't need to visit a branch office—everything could be done on her phone. This put Auntie 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 assist her. Seeing this, Yang offered to operate the phone for her, transferring funds into his own account first before paying the premiums and product fees on her behalf. Trusting Yang, Auntie Ge handed over her phone for him to use and even allowed him to register her mobile banking account.
In 2025 year 12 month, Aunt Ge's nephew discovered that in addition to insurance premium deductions, large transfers to Yang's account had occurred multiple times since 2021, with no corresponding records of insurance or wealth management product purchases. The total amount involved was over 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 year 7 month. Despite this, Yang continued to visit her home under the pretext of renewing her insurance, operating her phone to make transfers. Realizing she had been defrauded, Aunt Ge immediately reported the case to the Xuhui 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.
Source: Xinmin Evening News
Edited by: Zhu Jiaqi
Proofreader: Zhang Liyuan
Reviewed by: He Zhuoqian
