Fictitious Digital Elderly Real Estate “Reverse Mortgage” Scam: Exploiting pre-sales of smart eldercare communities to defraud elderly individuals into mortgaging property for investment

Who Gets Targeted

The victimized elderly individuals are mostly between 60 and 80 years old, possessing real estate and savings, but their children often live far away and their daily information sources primarily come from television, lectures, and acquaintance recommendations. They both worry about becoming a burden to their children and desire stable returns higher than their pensions through “eldercare investment,” making them exceptionally susceptible to packaging like “digital eldercare real estate” and “new reverse mortgage models.” Sales agents often start by giving away eggs, grain, and oil, followed by attentive care to create emotional dependence. When trouble arises, elderly individuals fear losing face or being blamed by family members, preferring to bear it themselves rather than reporting it immediately, resulting in the money becoming harder to recover the longer it is dragged out.

骗局怎么运作

• Step 1: Rent high-end office buildings or hotels, decorate them into “digital eldercare experience centers,” display smart health monitoring equipment, VR experience zones, and even forge background walls claiming government cooperation. Attract elderly individuals to visit through market tactics like “free eggs” and “health lectures,” establishing initial trust with pitches such as “We are a smart eldercare demonstration project supported by the state.”
• Step 2: Register the elderly individuals' age, property status, and savings information during the lectures, specifically screening for those who own property and whose children are not around. Sales agents provide one-on-one companionship, deliver rice and oil, and repeatedly conduct “psychological profiling” to figure out the seniors' disposable funds and risk tolerance, preparing for precise promotion of “digital eldercare real estate.”
• Step 3: Publicly claim to launch “digital eldercare real estate,” building smart eldercare communities in scenic areas where seniors only need to pay a down payment, after which they can monthly receive “eldercare service points” or “rental dividends.” The sales pitch repeatedly emphasizes the “new reverse mortgage model” and “your house still belongs to you, backed by state policies,” creating a sense of scarcity regarding policy dividends to make seniors feel they will lose out if they don't buy.
• Step 4: Require seniors to pay “reservation deposits” or “subscription funds” ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of yuan, and even induce them to take out mortgage loans using their property. The document signed is presented as an “Eldercare Apartment Reservation Contract,” but the content turns out to be equity investment or borrowing, mixed with promises such as “10% returns returned every quarter,” making seniors mistakenly believe that signing provides legal protection.
• Step 5: Pay small amounts of interest or queue points in the early stages to create an illusion that the “project is running normally,” and subsequently delay payouts using excuses like “system upgrades,” “pandemic delays,” or “acceptance inspection.” By the time the seniors' families discover the truth, the company has been deregistered, personnel have lost contact, and funds have been transferred to third-party accounts, making it extremely difficult for the police to recover the stolen money upon intervention.

红旗信号（看到这些快跑）

• 🚩 The promotional materials frequently feature trendy concepts such as “digital,” “smart,” and “blockchain,” yet cannot produce any hard documents like real land approvals, construction planning, or financial licenses.
• 🚩 Promising principal and interest guarantees or annual returns exceeding 10%, whereas legitimate eldercare services and financial products do not offer such high return guarantees.
• 🚩 The collection account is a personal account or a newly established shell company account, the transfer name does not match the industrial and commercial registration name, and no formal invoices are provided with the contract.
• 🚩 Verbally stating “bed reservation” or “eldercare services,” but writing it into the contract as “equity investment” or “borrowing,” with clauses filled with words like “buyback” and “dividends.”
• 🚩 Preventing seniors from taking contracts home, intentionally arranging dedicated personnel to watch them sign, repeatedly rushing that “government subsidy quotas are limited, the deposit must be paid today,” and avoiding family awareness.

真实案例

• In March 2026, public reports disclosed a major illegal fundraising case involving an eldercare apartment. An eldercare apartment project involving officials from a local civil affairs bureau raised funds from 7,900 elderly individuals under the name of “charitable eldercare,” involving an amount of 672 million yuan. Afterward, when seniors demanded refunds, they discovered the project's real estate had long been mortgaged by the bank, and safeguarding their rights encountered the difficulty of “bank priority repayment,” making it hard to recover their hard-earned money.
• In February 2026, according to Tencent News reports, a 72-year-old woman invested 300,000 yuan in savings into an “eldercare project,” which had promised monthly rebates. Several months later, when she visited the site, she found the company abandoned, and related personnel directly replied, “Not a single penny is left.” Media investigations showed the project had not obtained any financial and eldercare approval qualifications.
• The Public Security Bureau of Yanji City, Jilin Province, cracked a cross-regional eldercare fundraising scam case. A criminal gang registered multiple eldercare service companies, fabricated “eldercare bed pre-purchases,” and attracted elderly members with “high-interest rebates,” involving over 3 million yuan, with 10 suspects arrested. Investigations revealed that most funds were squandered personally, and the actual projects and beds did not exist at all. (Source: [https://www.163.com/dy/article/L3P3A2DT05149AGP.html](https://www.163.com/dy/article/L3P3A2DT05149AGP.html))
• In May 2026, the official website of the Tianhe District Government in Guangzhou disclosed the second-instance final judgment of the fundraising fraud case involving Xiao Mou and Chen Mou: Defendants Xiao Mou, Chen Mou, and Cai Mou conspired under the guise of providing eldercare services to successively establish Zigong Yishouyuan Eldercare Service Co., Ltd. and Sichuan Guiran Eldercare Service Co., Ltd., setting up branches in multiple locations. Knowing they lacked financing qualifications and that the “eldercare base” could never be built, they still used fixed returns of 1% to 3% monthly, priority residency plus discounts at the eldercare base, and full principal refund upon maturity as bait, defrauding 189 elderly individuals of over 5.62 million yuan. 45% to 50% of the raised funds were taken as commissions by the financing team and the rest was split up, with not a single penny invested in base construction. The court sentenced Xiao Mou to thirteen years in prison and Chen Mou to twelve years and six months for the crime of fundraising fraud, fined each two hundred thousand yuan, and ordered them to return and compensate for all losses. (Source: [http://www.thnet.gov.cn/gzjg/qzf/qswjrj/ffdfxcjy/content/post_10828639.html](http://www.thnet.gov.cn/gzjg/qzf/qswjrj/ffdfxcjy/content/post_10828639.html))
• In May 2026, an investigation by Southern Weekly exposed the collapse case of Hunan Xiangxiang Yuquanshanzhuang Eldercare: The court determined that Fuxing Company, which constructed and managed the apartment, illegally absorbed public deposits under the guise of operating eldercare services by selling prepaid membership cards. By July 2021, it actually collected 673 million yuan in principal, of which 15.7634 million yuan was unaccounted for, involving 7,938 fundraising participants, with 4,075 principal-losing participants suffering actual losses of 288 million yuan. In September 2022, the People's Court of Xiangxiang City sentenced Tan Hansong and Wang Guohua to seventeen years in prison respectively for the crimes of illegally absorbing public deposits and fundraising fraud, with fines of seventy thousand yuan, and the second instance upheld the original judgment. (Source: [https://news.southcn.com/node_64549305f1/b57c784c56.shtml](https://news.southcn.com/node_64549305f1/b57c784c56.shtml))

Official Stance

• The Office of the Leading Group for Preventing and Combating Illegal Financial Activities in Fujian Province issued the “Risk Warning on Preventing Illegal Fundraising in the Eldercare Sector” on June 27, 2025, clearly warning elderly individuals to be wary of scams absorbing funds under names like “eldercare services” and “eldercare real estate.”
• The Financial Committee Office of the Hubei Provincial Committee of the CPC issued an illegal fundraising warning case titled “The Fragmented Investment Dream of a Happy Old Age” on February 9, 2026, exposing the entire process of so-called “eldercare projects” using high interest as bait in a Ponzi scheme until the capital chain breaks.
• The Ministry of Public Security announced 5 typical cases of illegal fundraising crimes in the eldercare sector on August 11, 2025, pointing out that bad actors illegally raise funds under names like “eldercare apartments” and “reverse mortgages,” involving huge amounts of money and affecting numerous elderly individuals, and urged the public to remain vigilant.
• The People's Government of Chaoyang City published “Common Routines of Eldercare Fraud-Type Illegal Fundraising” in June 2026, specifically listing the complete closed loop of “free gifts - emotional marketing - promises of principal and interest return - running away with funds,” reminding the elderly demographic not to blindly trust promotional materials produced by the project party itself.

How to Protect Yourself

• ✅ For any investment decisions involving property mortgages or large transfers, seniors must hold a “family meeting,” having at least one adult child accompany them during the process, and avoid signing contracts alone at unfamiliar companies.
• ✅ Check whether a company possesses the qualification to absorb public deposits through the official website of the National Financial Regulatory Administration or the local financial office website; for eldercare projects, also check civil affairs records. When uncertain, directly call the 12378 banking and insurance consumer complaint hotline or the 96110 anti-fraud hotline.
• ✅ Keep in mind that genuine “reverse mortgage” housing is only conducted by licensed insurance institutions under regulatory permission for reverse mortgage eldercare insurance businesses. Any “reverse mortgage” project requiring upfront payments, loan processing, or entrusted notarization must be strictly rejected.
• ✅ Retain all evidence including transfer receipts, chat logs, and original contracts. The moment payment delays occur, immediately report to public security organs, and do not listen to delaying pitches like “internal coordination, returning funds soon,” to avoid missing the golden window for freezing and recovering funds.