In October 2008, Wang Jun travelled to an apartment building in Handan, China, hoping to meet a woman he had spoken to online. He believed he was about to go on his first date with Huo Jingwan. But when he arrived at her apartment, nobody answered the door.
The security guard reacted strangely when Jun asked about her. Hours later, police officers arrived at Jun’s home and took him in for questioning. A detective told him that Huo had been murdered more than a week earlier.
Jun was shocked. He had spoken to her on the phone just hours before. How could she be dead?
The answer revealed a disturbing plan involving a stolen mobile phone, a second woman, and several unsuspecting men. The killer had used Huo’s identity to arrange fake dates, hoping to make innocent people look like murder suspects.
Who Was Huo Jingwan?
Huo Jingwan lived in Handan, a city in China’s Hebei province. She had been communicating with men online and arranging to meet some of them in person.
One of these men was Yang Hongjie, who was reportedly her actual online boyfriend. Their planned meeting was supposed to be an important step in their relationship.
However, the meeting ended in violence. Yang robbed Huo and suffocated her to death inside her apartment. He also took her mobile phone before leaving.
Instead of simply trying to hide his crime, Yang developed a plan that would create confusion around Huo’s death.
How Yang Hongjie Used a Stolen Phone to Create Fake Dates
After killing Huo, Yang returned to his own home, where he had another girlfriend. He instructed her to use Huo’s stolen phone and pretend to be the dead woman.
The plan was to contact men who believed they were communicating with Huo and arrange dates at her apartment.
Each man would arrive expecting to meet a woman he had spoken to online. Instead, he would find no one answering the door.
Yang apparently expected the men to become connected to the murder investigation. If several men showed up around the time Huo’s body was discovered, investigators might suspect one of them had killed her.
His girlfriend followed his instructions and continued communicating with the unsuspecting men through Huo’s phone.
The plan depended on one important detail: the men had to believe they were still talking to Huo.
Wang Jun Arrived at Apartment 401
About a week and a half after Huo’s murder, Wang Jun arranged what he believed would be his first face-to-face meeting with her.
He had communicated with Huo online and over the phone, but they had never met in person. According to his understanding, she had invited him to her apartment.
Jun arrived late at night and went to apartment 401. He knocked several times, but nobody answered.
Because it was already around midnight, he wondered whether Huo had become annoyed by his lateness and gone to bed. He also considered whether he had written down the wrong apartment number.
Rather than immediately calling her, Jun decided to ask the building’s security guard for help.
Why the Security Guard Became Suspicious
When Jun approached the security guard, the man initially appeared friendly and willing to help.
But his behaviour changed when Jun mentioned Huo and apartment 401.
The guard stopped responding normally, stared at Jun, and walked away without helping him.
Jun did not understand the reaction. He felt uncomfortable and embarrassed, so he decided to leave the building.
The security guard had a reason for reacting that way. Huo’s body had already been discovered, and the police were investigating her murder. To the guard, a stranger asking about her apartment was suspicious.
After Jun left the building, his phone rang. It was Huo’s number.
He answered and explained what had happened. He apologised for arriving late and asked whether she still wanted to meet.
The woman on the other end seemed confused by his explanation. Then she abruptly ended the call.
Jun found the entire encounter strange and decided to go home.
He had no idea that the person he believed was Huo was actually using her stolen phone.
Police Questioned Jun About Huo’s Murder
The following morning, two police officers arrived at Jun’s home.
They explained that the security guard had reported his presence at the apartment building. They wanted to know why he had visited the apartment and what connection he had to Huo.
Jun agreed to accompany them to the police station.
During questioning, he repeatedly explained that he had met Huo online and believed they had arranged a date. He told the detective about arriving late, knocking on the door, speaking to the security guard, and receiving a phone call after leaving.
The detective did not believe him.
When Jun mentioned the phone call, the detective accused him of lying. According to the detective, Huo could not have called him because she had been dead for more than a week.
Jun was devastated. He had believed he was speaking to Huo the previous night, but the police were telling him that she had already been murdered.
He began crying during the interrogation.
The detective, however, remained convinced that Jun was involved in the killing. Investigators were still searching Huo’s apartment for evidence that could connect him to the crime.
Then an unexpected development changed the investigation.
Other Men Arrived at Huo’s Apartment
An investigator returned from the apartment with information that challenged the theory against Jun.
The search had repeatedly been interrupted by men arriving at the building. They were strangers to one another, but they all appeared to have the same reason for visiting.
Each man claimed he had spoken to Huo and arranged a date with her.
Their stories closely resembled Jun’s account. They believed they were going to meet a woman they had communicated with over the phone, only to discover that nobody answered the door.
This was a crucial discovery.
Jun was not the only man who had received calls or messages from Huo’s number. Several men had been directed to the same apartment, even though Huo had been dead for days.
Their accounts suggested that someone else was controlling her phone and arranging the meetings.
How the Fake Dating Scheme Was Exposed
The arrival of multiple men forced investigators to reconsider what had happened.
If Jun had murdered Huo, his explanation alone might have seemed suspicious to investigators. But the other men described a similar experience without knowing one another.
They had all believed they were communicating with the same woman. They had all been directed to her apartment. And they had all arrived after her death.
The stolen phone provided a possible explanation for these seemingly impossible events.
Yang had taken Huo’s phone after killing her. He then instructed his girlfriend to impersonate Huo and arrange dates with other men.
The scheme was designed to create a group of potential suspects and draw suspicion away from the actual killer. But the men who arrived at the apartment were not involved in the murder. They had been deceived by someone using Huo’s identity.
The discovery of their matching accounts helped expose the deception and redirect attention towards the people behind it.
What the Case Reveals About Online Dating Scams
The case demonstrates how easily an online identity can be misused when someone gains access to another person’s phone or accounts.
It also shows why investigators must examine evidence carefully instead of relying on suspicious circumstances alone.
A phone call does not prove who is using the phone
Jun believed he was speaking to Huo because the call came from her number. But a phone number cannot establish the identity of the person using the device.
Someone else had taken control of Huo’s phone and was pretending to be her.
Several suspicious people may have been deceived by the same person
The men who visited the apartment initially appeared connected to the murder because they had all arranged meetings with Huo.
But their similar stories pointed towards a shared deception rather than proof that they had committed a crime.
Investigators needed to establish what each person had actually done, rather than treating their presence at the apartment as evidence of guilt.
Digital evidence can reveal a hidden pattern
Messages, call records, and the timing of communications can help investigators reconstruct events. In this case, the repeated calls and planned meetings provided a link between several otherwise unrelated men.
The important clue was not simply that multiple men had visited the apartment. It was that they had all been communicating with someone who was impersonating a woman who was already dead.
Conclusion
The murder of Huo Jingwan became more complicated when her stolen phone was used to arrange dates with unsuspecting men.
Wang Jun arrived at her apartment believing he was meeting someone who had invited him. Instead, he became a suspect in her murder because he could not explain why the security guard had reacted strangely or why the woman he had called was supposedly dead.
The appearance of other men with nearly identical stories exposed the pattern behind the deception. Someone had been using Huo’s identity to create false leads and confuse the investigation.
The case is a reminder that appearances can be misleading. A suspicious visit does not automatically make someone a criminal, and a familiar phone number does not guarantee that the person on the other end is who they claim to be.
For Jun, what began as an awkward first date ended in a murder investigation. For the police, the repeated stories from other men became the clue that helped unravel the scheme.