Chinese man arrested for scamming 63 hotels – Chinese man arrested for using ‘dirty condoms and cockroaches’ to scam 63 hotels

A 21-year-old man in China was arrested after scamming dozens of hotels with false hygiene complaints: cockroaches, used condoms and clumps of hair. Known only by his surname, Jiang, the man allegedly devised an elaborate plan to cover expenses after running out of funds intended for his university enrollment, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.

According to SCMP, Jiang would check into hotels with “props,” including cicadas, dead cockroaches and clumps of hair, to file false hygiene complaints.

He would then demand compensation, ranging from free stays to monetary settlements, and threaten to expose the hotels online.

In a span of 10 months, Jiang’s exploits saw him staying in over 300 hotels, scamming 63 of them for a total of $5,200 (Rs 4,39,700 approximately).

Police in Linhai, Zhejiang province, revealed that Jiang would sometimes check into multiple hotels in a single day, meticulously executing his plan.

“His methods were calculated. He planted insects, bugs and hair to create the impression of unsanitary conditions, exploiting minor defects to blackmail the hotels into giving him compensation,” a police officer told SCMP.

Jiang’s luck ran out when our hotel decided to report him after suspecting a crime. Staff at other establishments began sharing notes and recognized a recurring pattern in their complaints.

An anonymous hotel employee shared: “He often raised hygiene complaints that seemed suspicious. By reaching out to other hotels, we realized he was doing the same trick at multiple locations.”

Following his arrest, authorities discovered 23 packages containing Jiang’s “tools” to organize the scams. Further investigation revealed the scale of their operation, which targeted mid-range hotels across the region.