Chinese man duped in elaborate marriage scam involving fake pregnancy, dowry, rented Mercedes and actors
A Chinese man’s dream marriage turned into a nightmare after he discovered his wife had faked her pregnancy, identity, dowry and even hired actors to pose as her parents in an elaborate marriage scam.
- A 26-year-old man in China paid RMB148,000 (approximately US$21100) bride price, only to later discover the dowry, luxury car and pregnancy were all fabricated.
- Wife used fake identities, forged medical records and hired actors to impersonate family members.
- Court sentenced the woman to 4½ years’ jail for fraud and ordered partial recovery of illicit proceeds.
CHINA: A 26-year-old man in China has fallen victim to an elaborate marriage scam after discovering that his wife had fabricated nearly every aspect of her identity — including a fake pregnancy, counterfeit dowry, rented luxury car and even hired actors posing as her parents.
The man, surnamed Shen (申明, pseudonym), from Suizhou in Hubei province, married his girlfriend in May last year after she claimed to be pregnant. He paid her a bride price of RMB148,000 (approximately US$21100).
In return, she appeared to provide a generous dowry — a RMB460,000 (approximately US$65780) bank deposit slip, 100g of gold bars and a Mercedes-Benz MPV.
All of it later turned out to be fake.
Pregnancy, identity and family all fabricated
According to local reports, Shen only discovered after the marriage that his wife, Yin Xia (尹霞), had lied about being pregnant. The medical records and ultrasound images she showed him were forged.
Further investigations revealed that Yin had also falsified her name and age, claiming to be born in 1994 when she was actually born in 1989.
The Mercedes-Benz was rented, the gold bars and bank deposit slip were purchased online, and the people who appeared as her parents were hired actors.
Relationship built on deception
Court documents showed that Shen and Yin met on a short-video platform in May 2022 and later entered a relationship.
After meeting in person and becoming intimate, Yin falsely claimed she was pregnant in September 2022 to gain Shen’s trust. She also fabricated a wealthy family background, claiming her father was a high-ranking official.
In January 2023, she told Shen she had suffered a miscarriage and produced fake hospital records to support the claim.
The couple only met once every one to two months during the relationship.
Wedding and sudden disappearance
In May 2024, the pair married in Shen’s hometown in Suizhou before planning a second wedding banquet in Qingdao, where Yin claimed her family lived.
She took the RMB148,000 (approximately US$21100) cash bride price and arranged for Shen to stay at what she said was her family’s villa.
Although Shen repeatedly asked to meet her parents and register their marriage, Yin cited family conflicts to delay the meeting. Days later, she handed him the “dowry”, easing his doubts.
Soon after returning to Suizhou, Yin insisted on going back to Qingdao.
Shen agreed on the condition that she return the bride price.
He later received a call from a woman posing as his mother-in-law, saying Yin could keep the cash while leaving the car, bank slip and gold as “collateral”. Yin vanished shortly after.
Scam uncovered, police alerted
Realising something was wrong, Shen traced the vehicle registration and discovered the Mercedes-Benz was rented.
Further checks confirmed the bank slip and gold bars were fake, prompting him to lodge a police report.
In June 2024, Shen travelled to Qingdao to verify Yin’s household registration and found that “no such person” existed under her claimed identity.
Prior marriage revealed
Police investigations later uncovered that Yin had been legally married to another man since August 2015 in Shandong’s Laizhou city and had a daughter.
Although she and her husband separated due to marital issues, they never divorced, making her subsequent marriage to Shen illegal.
Between June and October 2024, Yin returned RMB78,700 (approximately US$11250) to Shen.
She was arrested in Qingdao in October 2024 on suspicion of bigamy and later investigated for fraud in May 2025.
Court ruling and sentence
On 17 November 2025, the Zengdu District Court in Suizhou heard the case.
Yin was convicted of fraud and sentenced to four and a half years in prison. The court also ordered the recovery of RMB89,140 (approximately US$12700) in illegal proceeds to be returned to Shen.
However, Shen expressed dissatisfaction with the ruling, saying the sentence was lighter than expected. He is considering applying for a prosecutorial appeal.
Shen also said those who posed as Yin’s parents and brother were accomplices and should be held fully accountable under the law.
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