A Haidian district case said a woman in her 60s posed as her 20-year-old goddaughter, borrowed more than 200,000 yuan from a man and lost it all in 10x leveraged virtual currency trading.
A court in Beijing's Haidian district sentenced retiree Meng, a woman in her 60s, to four years in prison, imposed a fine and ordered restitution after finding she defrauded a young man of more than 200,000 yuan through a fake online romance. According to Beijing Evening News and the court account, she posed as her 20-year-old goddaughter to build the relationship and obtain the money. She then put all of the funds into virtual currency trading using 10x leverage, and the position was liquidated after prices fell, wiping out the account. The case highlights how romance scams can intersect with high-risk crypto speculation, where leverage can rapidly magnify losses.