A Chinese company has discovered a fraud plot involving over 20 bogus workers on the payroll while applying for permission to resume production following the COVID-19 lockdown.
A private company in the city of Kunshan in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu was reportedly checking the personal details and whereabouts of nearly 200 workers while applying for permission to resume activities.
With the virus apparently fading away in the country, the company’s human resources department reportedly started gathering the contact information and known whereabouts of its employees when they came across around 20 workers with phone numbers that did not exist.
However, the workers were included on the shift database and around 80,000 RMB (9,450 GBP) was paid to them in salaries and bonuses every month, according to reports.
Bosses called the police who quickly unearthed a plot to swindle money from the company coffers.
Following an investigation, the police identified a suspect named Xu who had been in charge of worker registration since 2013, according to local media.
Despite her moderate income, Xu had reportedly been lavish in her daily spending and she later confessed that she had been part of a plot with the factory shift boss, identified as Wang, since 2017.
The pair had allegedly embezzled over one million RMB (118,190 GBP) in over two years.
According to reports, the police found over 10 credit cards at Wang’s residence as well as stolen cash.
The investigation is ongoing.
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Story By: Lee Bullen, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report
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