Chinese woman with 16 jobs never turns up for work but manages to buy Shanghai villa

Missing a day of work without a valid reason could cost you your job. 

But one woman in China, named Guan Yue, managed to get away with it for three years, and even juggled 16 jobs at once.

Working in cahoots with her husband, Chen Qiang, the couple accumulated enough money to buy a villa in Shanghai, reported the South China Morning Post on Tuesday (Sept 5). 

To keep track of her 'jobs', Guan kept records of her employment details, such as start dates, job titles and bank account numbers for each of her positions. 

She would also take photos and send them into work group chats to give her employers the impression that she was out meeting clients. 

Despite juggling multiple roles, Guan never turned down job offers. Whenever she was overwhelmed, she simply sold the job offers to others for a commission. 

However, her ruse finally came to an end this January. She was arrested while in the middle of a job interview, after one of her employers — a tech company owner named Liu Jian — noticed some discrepancy in her paperwork. 

His company had hired a team leader and seven members in October 2022, all of whom had impressive resumes and extensive experience. But they failed to deliver results and eventually had their contacts terminated.

It was then that Liu discovered he had been duped by Guan, prompting him to make a police report. 

During their investigations, the police discovered the couple had a flow of dodgy funds ranging from thousands to tens of thousands of yuan into multiple bank accounts, which were listed as salaries. 

They found that Guan and Chen, together with 53 others, were involved in an elaborate wage scam, which amounted to more than 50 million yuan (S$9 million). 

According to police estimates, there are at least 700 to 800 wage scammers across China.

News of Guan's racketeering stunned Chinese netizens, who questioned the country's employment regulations and called for a tightening of the rules. 

One commented: "Even if only two out of the 16 companies had paid social security for their employees, the fraud would have been exposed much earlier."

"These swindlers were only able to cheat less reputable companies. If these companies followed regulations and laws, the scammers would not have survived a single day," said another.

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ashwini.balan@asiaone.com