A man in eastern China spent his university tuition on travel instead of enrolling and scammed multiple hotels by placing dead cockroaches and used condoms in rooms when his funds ran out.
He employed this scheme to blackmail 63 hotels, seeking free accommodation and compensation, which ultimately led to his arrest and sparked public outrage online.
The 21-year-old man from Taizhou, Zhejiang province, known only by his surname Jiang, began his deceptive journey in September last year after opting to forgo university enrolment in favour of travelling with his tuition money.
It remains unclear whether the school funds were provided by his parents or the total amount spent.
However, when his finances dwindled, Jiang resorted to a “creative” scheme to extort compensation from hotels.
He meticulously prepared a collection of “props” in advance – including dead cockroaches, cicadas, strands of hair, and used condoms – to fabricate unsanitary conditions and extract compensation from multiple establishments.
“Over a span of 10 months, Jiang frequently stayed at hotels, sometimes checking into three or four different ones in a single day. He would exploit minor flaws or plant insects, bugs, and hair to threaten hotels with complaints or online exposure, demanding free stays or compensation,” explained an unnamed police officer from Linhai in Zhejiang.
