A poster of a Chinese TV series The Return of the Princess Pearl. [Photo/baidu.com]

"Qing Dynasty princess" scams people of $360,000

A woman in China managed to swindle victims out of 2.3 million yuan ($360,000) by pretending to be a Qing Dynasty princess, the New Express reported.

The 49-year-old Wang Fengying claimed that she was Princess Changping, a descendant of the Aisin Gioro family, a house that ruled the Qing Dynasty (1644 to 1911).

Wang persuaded victims to lend her money so that she could bribe officials and get her assets back. She promised to reward them with three times the amount of their investment.

Wang and her accomplice, a 47-year-old unemployed man from Xi'an, claimed that her family left her 175 billion yuan in assets which had been held by authorities. Both of them turned out to be ordinary farmers from Central China's Henan province.

The scam went on from February 2013 to July 2014, during which time the woman used the spoils to splurge on a new car and put a down payment on an apartment.

At her home, authorities found 41 gold bars, thousands in fake cash and "treasure maps that Wang offered to investors as collateral", according to the Associated Press.

Wang was sentenced to 13.5 years in prison on Monday while her accomplice was jailed for 12 years, the People's Court of Lianhu District in Xi'an. They were also ordered to repay the stolen money and fined 500,000 yuan.

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