In recent years, a single elderly aunt in Shanghai spent over 9 million yuan on more than a thousand pieces of antiques and collectibles, only to find out recently that they were all counterfeit, with a total value of only 400,000 yuan. This news made it to the top searches on Baidu on September 25.
According to the News Morning Post on September 25, in 2012, an elderly aunt named Li, who lived alone in Shanghai and was in her eighties, met a antique dealer named Wang Jie (alias) at an antique exhibition. The two often exchanged thoughts on antique collections via WeChat. In September 2020, Wang Jie began introducing various collectibles to Aunt Li.
Soon after, Wang Jie started recommending some bracelets and jade to Aunt Li, and she would occasionally buy some inexpensive trinkets from him. As Aunt Li’s daughter lived abroad most of the time, Aunt Li, living alone, found solace in collecting antiques as her favorite pastime to ward off loneliness. She had expressed to Wang Jie multiple times that if she found good collectibles, she would spare no cost to purchase and add them to her collection.
In September 2020, Wang Jie started introducing different items to Aunt Li, claiming that some were collected by a retired director of the Cultural Bureau, others were treasured items of a well-known school principal, and some were products of the Qing Dynasty official kiln, among other stories.
Wang Jie even drove from Beijing to Shanghai specifically to bring numerous porcelain items to Aunt Li’s house, where he explained the origins, histories, and values of the items in person. Aunt Li never declined, and each time Wang Jie visited, she would buy a considerable number of items.
In just nine months, Aunt Li spent over 9 million yuan purchasing over 1,000 antiques and collectibles from Wang Jie, with the most expensive piece being a porcelain item worth over 200,000 yuan.
In June 2021, Aunt Li’s daughter, using the alias Li Lan, returned from abroad to visit her mother and became suspicious of the various porcelains, jades, and decorations in the house. She secretly took a few items for appraisal and discovered that they were all labeled as “modern craft products” with artificially aged appearances.
Li Lan confronted Wang Jie with accusations of selling counterfeit goods, but Wang Jie never admitted fault. Instead, he continuously explained and claimed that the other items he sold to Aunt Li were authentic.
Facing Li Lan’s demand for a refund of her mother’s money, Wang Jie asserted that the antique trade was always a “final transaction,” indicating he would not refund a penny unless legally compelled.
In July 2021, Li Lan reported the case for assistance.
By the end of 2023, the appraisal results confirmed that all over 1,000 “antique collectibles” were counterfeits, with a market value of around 400,000 yuan, even lower than what Wang Jie had paid to his suppliers.
Realizing she had been deceived, Aunt Li handed over her chat records with Wang Jie to the police. In these chats, Wang Jie’s remarks included requests for unclear photos to be taken, indicating that he needed to make items look older. The conversations also involved warnings from his superiors against having a “dark heart.” Over a thousand chat records, along with over 800 pictures and audiovisual materials, confirmed Wang Jie’s intentional deception of Aunt Li.
On May 10, 2021, Wang Jie was arrested in Beijing and eventually admitted to defrauding Aunt Li.
Upon learning the truth, Aunt Li was speechless for a long time, finding it difficult to accept that her longtime friend had been deceiving her all along.
Currently, the suspect Wang Jie has been criminally detained for fraud, and the ill-gotten gains of over 9 million yuan have been fully returned to Aunt Li.
A netizen under the name “岳雲鵬5vn” cautioned, “The antique market is full of traps. May Aunt’s experience serve as a warning, requiring caution in collecting!”