'Casanova' exposed after his 17 girlfriends visit him in hospital
For most men, keeping one woman happy is tough enough.
One man in China was happy enough to juggle his time between 17 girlfriends.
That was until he was found out.
The women were aged between 20 and 40. Some had been dating him for more than 10 years.
Most had met him through social media apps QQ and WeChat.
And not one of them knew the others existed.
Cheated women of money
The jig was up only last week when a car accident had put the erstwhile Casanova in hospital. Wanting to make sure he was okay, all the women visited him.
They then reported him to the authorities.
A police investigation revealed that the man, whose surname — somewhat ironically — is Yuan, had fleeced his "girlfriends" of tens of thousands of yuan.
He had also previously cheated his ex-wife out of 250,000 yuan (S$55,000).
Shanghaiist reported that Yuan had another 200 female targets on WeChat.
One girlfriend told local media she had been supporting him financially for more than nine years, reported BBC News. Another said she was planning their wedding.
Said one woman who dated him for 18 months: "I was really worried when I heard that he was in hospital
"But when I started seeing more and more beautiful girls show up, I couldn't cry any more."
Lied to get a job
But the women weren't the only people he fooled.
Yuan fabricated his education background and claimed to have a civil engineering degree from a top-notch China university. In truth, he had only a middle school diploma, reported China Daily.
Yet, the conman managed to snag a job at a big firm and was put in charge of revamping expressways.
Local media reported that the man will be charged with fraud.
Sources: BBC News, China Daily, Shanghaiist
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