Woman scams 160k yuan from uncle seeking work for his son

An unemployed woman has been sentenced to four years of probation for swindling 160,000 yuan ($25,664) from her uncle by promising to get his son a job, a district court said Tuesday.

The defendant, surnamed Zhang, in her 20s, was charged with fraud for telling her uncle that she needed the money, most of which she kept, to get her cousin a job at a community affairs center, according to a press release from Qingpu District People's Court.

Although Zhang has been unemployed since she graduated from high school, she offered to help her cousin, surnamed Li, a recent university graduate, get a job through her supposed connections in the education authority, the court said.

Zhang told her uncle that she needed the money to buy gifts for the officials and take them out. He gave her the money in several installments from June to December 2012.

Zhang was able to find Li an internship at a community affairs center, but told her uncle that she had gotten Li a full-time, though probationary, position. She went as far as to pay Li's salary out of her own pocket.

The ploy lasted until the community affairs center decided to terminate the internship. Instead of telling her uncle the truth, Zhang invented a story that Li had been fired for making too many mistakes on the job.

Feeling suspicious, Zhang's uncle went to the center, where he learned his son was only an intern.

Li reported Zhang to the police, who took her into custody on July 30, 2013.

Zhang's parents repaid the money to her uncle.

The court sentenced Zhang to three years in prison, but gave her a four-year reprieve because she was young and her uncle forgave her.

She will have to serve out her prison sentence if she violates the terms of her probation.