Trusting an insurance agent led not only to purchasing insurance and financial products that boosted their performance but also to handing over a mobile phone for bill payments. Instead, the victim fell into a payment scam trap, losing over 200 million yuan from their account in 5. This is an elderly-targeted fraud case recently cracked by Xuhui authorities. After being prosecuted by the Xuhui District Procuratorate, the Xuhui District 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 Mr. Yang. Mr. Yang was extremely warm and welcoming, frequently visiting her to chat, cook meals together, and accompany her to medical appointments. This kindness quickly built a close bond between them. Later, Mr. Yang pitched his insurance products to Auntie Ge. Moved by his situation as a divorced parent raising a child alone while managing work and life challenges, she decided to purchase an insurance policy from him to support his efforts.
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.
Edited by: Qianqian
Editor: Nie Longfei
