A woman was arrested in Hangzhou, China, after she held 16 jobs over three years without going to work, yet was able to buy a villa with her multiple incomes.

Guan Yue (pseudonym) was in a job interview in Hangzhou when the police arrested her, according to local newspaper Xinmin Evening News article on Aug. 30.

Pretended to meet clients

Despite having joined as many as 16 companies at once, Guan had apparently never actually gone to work.

Every time she went for a new job interview, she would supposedly take photos of herself and send them to work group chats to trick her other employers by pretending to meet clients.

However, Guan began to worry that she could not remember which company she was "working" for.

To keep up her alleged intricate scam, she would write down on paper all her starting dates, job titles and bank account numbers.

Husband also allegedly involved

Guan's husband Chen Qiang (pseudonym) is also reportedly involved.

When overwhelmed with too many potential job offers, Chen and Guan would not turn them down. Instead, they allegedly sold these opportunities to others and kept the commissions earned.

They used multiple chops, identity cards, and bank accounts to carry out their alleged scam.

Within three years, they reportedly used the money to buy a villa in Shanghai.

Alleged scam finally exposed

Guan's alleged scam was exposed when one of her employers, tech company owner Liu Jian, spotted a gap in one of her documents.

Liu's company was looking for experienced salespersons to promote a new product. They hired Guan and seven others in her team.

However, Liu decided to fire them after three months of probation as they did not "deliver a single sale".

When Liu terminated their contract, they demanded he pay them their full salary, which he reluctantly did.

Shortly after Guan left Liu's company, she mistakenly sent a photo of her resignation from another company to multiple work chat groups. Liu was in one of these chat groups.

On closer inspection, Liu found out that the timing of the resignation in the photo coincided with the time that she was supposed to be working for his company.

This meant that Guan and the sales team in Liu's company were allegedly receiving salaries from two companies at the same time.

Investigation

Sensing something suspicious, Liu made a police report in January 2023.

Police investigations showed questionable funds recorded as salaries entering multiple bank accounts. These salaries varied from thousands to tens of thousands of yuan.

52 other members were eventually arrested. The total amount involved in the case exceeded 50 million yuan (S$9.5 million).

According to police estimates, there are at least 700 to 800 wage scammers across China.

Top image from Xinmin Evening News/Weibo.