Bars in Lijiang, Southwest China's Yunan province, are known for romance.

During the National Day Golden Week, Lijiang, known for its romance and bars in Southwest China’s Yunan province, becomes a hot spot for holidaymakers. However, visitors who are in the mood for a love affair with strangers here are more often than not finding themselves the victims of shill fraud.

Peng, a visitor from South China’s city of Shenzhen, tells thepaper.cn that he has lost 5,000 yuan (around 786 USD) to such a shill fraud.

It happened like this. A girl searched “people nearby” on WeChat, a population chatting APP in China, and found Peng. Saying that she was a lonely tourist who wanted to drink, Peng took her to a bar, and ordered six bottles of wine that cost 5,000 yuan, but eventually when Peng came back from shower in the hotel, the girl was gone. Never heard since.

Peng was not the only victim. The reporters from thepaper.cn experimented several times and got the same results: they spent a lot but with the girl gone.

Behind the bait of Lijiang romance are the shills of the bars. In July this year, Lijiang government once investigated into the cases and punished two bars. It now seems that the rectification is not yet strong enough.