Guangming Daily, a Beijing-based newspaper reported that an anti-crime squad in the coastal Shandong province in Cangshan County, detained 15 individuals pretending to be officers from the PLA (People's Liberation Army)
This fake military gang, with fake badges, and private documents, failed to convince local police assigned in the area that central military authorities sent them to protect the release of the prisoners.
China Business News reported that a man named Mu, 49, scammed 400,000 Yuan from a man named Zhang, claiming that he was a prominent military officer. He guaranteed that the payment would guarantee a place for his daughter in a northern Chinese military academy. After that, a 50-year-old salesman named Hou persuaded him to invest in a new military academy. A senior military officer named Yange was said to be leading the mission.
Zhang gave an additional 800,000 Yuan to Mu, before Zhang finally informed the police. Mu was arrested on October 29.
This gang had deceived people all over the country by assuring mining permits and admission to leading military schools. According to Guangming Daily, scams like this earned 10 million Yuan or an equivalent of one million British pounds.
Some pictures posted online showed the men wearing olive-green military uniforms. A man named Sun, seemingly wetting his slacks in fright.
A 58 year-old man name Xianwer had swindled six families the amount of 3.8 million Yuan since 2005 by pretending to be a People's Liberation Army General. He swore to those families that he would help their children gain admission to leading military schools by charging them 200,000 Yuan.
Another case with the same modus operandi was a man acting as a major-general, Liao Heping, who earned 3 million Yuan in just two years.