First came the sweet talk, then the wine list — Domaine des Lambrays, Masseto 2014, Château Suduiraut. By the time she realised the investment platform was a sham, her money was gone. Court records show at least 99 women fell for the ruse, losing a combined 34.9 million yuan (US$4.87 million), in what Chinese authorities say is the first wine-themed scam traced to northern Myanmar’s fraud hubs.
A new twist on an old con
The scams, documented in China’s public court database, reveal how northern Myanmar’s notorious cyber fraud syndicates — long associated with telecom swindles, kidnappings, and extortion — have found an unlikely new hook: fine wine investment.
In these cases, all linked to a company called “Aoxiang (翱翔)” based in Myanmar’s Kokang region, scammers built fake online trading platforms, branding them with legitimate-sounding names like “Shanghai Free Trade Zone Wine Trading Centre.” The pitch: invest in prestigious wines and reap high returns.
But first, the victim had to trust the person making the offer — and that’s where the romance element came in.
Love, lies and luxury wine
According to court judgments, scammers trawled Chinese social media platforms such as Douyin and Xiaohongshu for single or divorced women. They posed as successful, sophisticated men — in many cases military officers — who struck up friendly chats, escalated into pet names, and gradually wove a virtual romance.
Video calls were off-limits, the “officers” claimed, citing confidentiality. But their attention was constant, their tone intimate. Once trust was established, they introduced the “wine investment” idea, encouraging the women to transfer money to the platform.
In some cases, victims were initially asked to make small purchases — and even saw apparent profits on the fake platform. “He told me to help him buy some wine,” one woman told the court. “I saw him charging money into the account every day and making money, and then he said he’d help me make some too.”
Soon, the stakes rose. Victims were told to recharge larger sums to unlock withdrawals, or that their accounts were “frozen” or “under maintenance.” None of the money was ever returned.
A polished illusion
The fake platform was dressed with images of famous labels — Domaine des Lambrays from Burgundy, Tuscany’s Masseto 2014, and Bordeaux’s Château Suduiraut 2015. The scammers’ profile pictures varied, but always featured attractive, well-groomed young men.
Online forums like Baidu Tieba’s anti-fraud section are littered with posts from people asking if others had been duped by the “Shanghai Free Trade Zone Wine Trading Centre.” One thread had more than 1,500 replies, many pointing to men claiming to be soldiers.
From telecom swindles to wine scams
China has battled telecom fraud for years, pushing many syndicates to relocate to lawless border zones such as northern Myanmar. These enclaves host sprawling scam compounds where crimes extend beyond fraud to illegal detention, kidnapping, extortion, rape, and even murder.
Previous high-profile cases have linked these areas to scams involving celebrity impersonations, bogus investments, and phony job offers. In one recent incident, Chinese actor Wang Xing was lured to Myanmar under the pretext of a filming job, sparking public outcry and even denting tourism and wine sales in Thailand.
This is the first time Chinese courts have publicly linked northern Myanmar’s syndicates to a wine investment scam. The 99 connected cases were combined for prosecution, with courts sentencing multiple participants to one to three years in prison, alongside suspended sentences of two to five years.
But the alleged ringleader, identified in court only by his surname Ou, remains at large overseas.
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