“JoAnne the Scammer” was the nickname given to this woman by the Chinese media after getting 20 boyfriends to buy her 20 iPhones, selling them and then using the money to buy a new house in the country side, as reported by BBC News.
A user named Proud Qiaoba posted a simple note on the Tian Ya Yi Du blogging platform concerning a female co-worker referred to as “Xaioli”, who worked also at Shenzen, who asked each of her 20 boyfriends to buy her an iPhone. After receiving the phones, Xiaoli sold it on the phone recycling site Hui Shou Bao for 120,000 Chinese Yuan or about $ 17,700. She then used the money to buy a house.
“Everyone in the office is talking about this now,” Proud Qiaoba posted in the blog as translated by BBC News. “Who knows what her boyfriends think now this news has become public.” Qiaoba added.
[Xiaoli] “is not from a wealthy family. Her mum is a housewife and her dad is a migrant worker, and she is the oldest daughter. Her parents are getting old and she might be under a lot pressure hoping to buy them a house… But it’s still unbelievable that she could use this method!” Qiaoba added.
The phone recycling company, Hui Shou Bao, confirmed that Proud Qiaoba’s post was true, “BBC Trending approached Hui Shou Bao and a company spokesperson confirmed that they had indeed purchased 20 iPhones from a female client at the beginning of October and paid 6,000 Chinese yuan (about $ 725) for each one.”
So far, Xiaoli refused to be interviewed. The story has gone viral on Sina Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter. The hashtag “20 mobiles for a house” was used over 13 million times.
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