(ECNS) -- A man in Shanghai has become a hot topic for running marriage scams to help women buy property in the city, as shown in a program aired on China Central Television.
Surnamed Wang and in his thirties, the man works for a local housing brokerage company. He has a legal hukou, or household registration, in the city's Songjiang District that gives residency privileges.
Wang has been married four times to help female customers meet home purchase requirements across Shanghai, according to his co-workers, who added that the oldest was over 70.
To help control the city's housing prices and real estate speculation, the Shanghai government bans people without a city hukou from buying property until they pay social insurance or individual income taxes for five consecutive years. But if they marry a local hukou holder with no property, the family can buy two.
During the TV program, brokers encouraged customer to marry Wang to qualify for home ownership and then divorce him after the home was purchased. A contract stipulating that "house property rights will all belong to the woman" is signed before the marriage. Wang is then paid 60,000 yuan ($8,717) to 80,000 yuan after the divorce.
The program warned people that marriage should be sacred, noting that marrying a stranger for the purpose of buying property could cause complicated legal disputes.
