Woman who lied about losing parents in Tianjin blasts – and scammed 96,500 yuan in donations – jailed for three years
A court in southern China handed a three-year jail sentence to a woman who posted a fabricated story online saying her family members were killed in the massive Tianjin port blasts last August, earning her 96,500 yuan in donations, mainland media reports.
Yang Cailan was also fined 8,000 yuan (US$ 1,216 or HK$9,480) after being found guilty of fraud at the Fangcheng District People’s Court in Fangchenggang city in Guangxi on Thursday. The case was first reported by a news site affiliated with the district, fcgsnews.com.
Early on the morning of August 13, shortly after the blasts at Tianjin Port, Yang posted her claim on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter.
“I am so scared. My dad worked nearby. He didn’t answer his phone when I called him just now. Neither did anyone from his company. I am so frightened at home,” it read.
The comment attracted wide attention from other online users, according to court reports.
Around 3am, Yang published another made-up story saying she couldn’t reach her father and her mother was dead.
Realising that she could get donations from people if she published long, emotionally moving posts, she posted an extensive piece at 10pm that day. She received 96,500 yuan in donations from 3,739 readers.
But Yang was found out by some online sleuths and her Weibo account was frozen by operator Sina.
The account was suspended before she had time to collect all the donations.
On August 14, Yang and her friend went to the local police for help. She told them the account had been hacked, and false information was posted through the attack. She said she had not used it since the end of 2012. But after investigating Yang’s phone, officers discovered she did own the Weibo account.
