A 36-year-old woman, Luo, has been sentenced to six years in prison for fraud after a pattern of eight marriages over approximately 15 years.
Following her first five marriages, she engaged in a series of three whirlwind marriages over three years, defrauding three men from other provinces of bride prices and other payments totaling 306,470 yuan.
After each marriage, she deliberately created and escalated conflicts to leave the groom's household, a scheme that continued until her case was uncovered and she was detained in June of last year.
According to a first-instance judgment issued last month by the Nanming District People's Court in Guiyang, Luo was convicted of fraud, sentenced to six years imprisonment, and ordered to return the total losses of 306,470 yuan to the three victims.
The court found that on November 29, 2023, Luo was introduced to a man named Wen for a matchmaking meeting at a company.
During this meeting, she intentionally concealed her history of quick marriages to gain the trust of Wen and his family.
The very next day, the two registered their marriage, with Wen's father paying Luo a bride price of 148,000 yuan and spending an additional 34,000 yuan to purchase gold jewelry for her.
After living together for a time in Hubei province, Luo deliberately created and magnified conflicts, leading to arguments and separate living arrangements.
In January 2024, Luo returned to Guiyang for a wedding banquet and subsequently repeatedly refused requests from the groom's family to return to Hubei.
She used the bride price money and proceeds from selling the gold jewelry to repay personal debts and for personal consumption.
On September 14, 2024, Luo was introduced to a man named Xu for a matchmaking meeting at another company.
She fabricated a story that her previous quick marriages were to increase household registrations for拆迁 compensation, thereby deceiving Xu and his family.
They registered their marriage on the same day, with Xu paying a bride price of 88,000 yuan.
Of this amount, Luo received 28,000 yuan upfront, with the remaining 60,000 yuan held in escrow by the company, to be paid upon her pregnancy and childbirth.
The following day, they traveled to Jiangsu to live together, where Xu's mother spent an additional 4,470 yuan on a gold necklace for Luo.
Luo then began to intentionally create and amplify conflicts, concocted reasons for being unable to live together, and left the groom's residence.
She used the received bride price and proceeds from selling the necklace for personal debts and consumption.
After their divorce, the company returned the 60,000 yuan in escrow to Xu.
On March 30, 2025, Luo was introduced to a man named Zeng for matchmaking.
Again concealing her history of quick marriages, she gained the trust of Zeng and his family.
They registered their marriage on April 3, 2025, with Zeng paying a bride price of 88,000 yuan.
While living together in Jiangxi, at Luo's request, Zeng spent 16,728 yuan on a gold ring, necklace, pendant, and earrings for her, and later spent an additional 33,680 yuan on a gold bracelet.
Luo deliberately created and escalated conflicts with Zeng, leaving Jiangxi on May 2, 2025, under the pretext of her grandmother's illness.
Subsequently, she used a social platform to twice request a total of 4,000 yuan from Zeng for personal expenses.
On June 5, 2025, public security authorities recovered the aforementioned gold jewelry from Luo and returned it to Zeng.
It was further established that on June 4, 2025, police from the Huaguoyuan Police Station of the Nanming District Public Security Bureau in Guiyang contacted Luo by phone, instructing her to appear for investigation.
The next day, Luo voluntarily went to the police station but refused to confess to the crime of defrauding others after her arrival.
The police station later seized a mobile phone from her.
The judgment also disclosed that, according to the public prosecution's charges, Luo had a total of eight marriages, including the three described above.
Her other five marriages were: registered marriage with Liao on March 30, 2010, resulting in a daughter, divorced in November 2011; registered marriage with Wang in March 2014, divorced in December 2015; registered marriage with He in March 2018, divorced in November 2018.
Starting in 2022, Luo began using matchmaking agencies to arrange quick marriages to men living far away, including a registered marriage with Ding from Jiangsu in September 2022 and a registered marriage with Ma from Shaanxi in December 2022.
The court held that Luo, with the purpose of illegal possession, defrauded others of property, and the amount involved was huge, constituting the crime of fraud.
Accordingly, on June 18 of this year, the court issued the first-instance judgment, sentencing Luo to six years imprisonment for fraud and imposing a fine of 40,000 yuan.
Concurrently, the court ordered Luo to compensate Wen for economic losses of 182,000 yuan, Xu for 32,470 yuan, and Zeng for 92,000 yuan.
The mobile phone seized in the case is to be dealt with according to law, with proceeds used to compensate the victims for their economic losses.
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