A 60-year-old Chinese man is in trouble after being duped into believing that a young woman will pay him to get her pregnant.
A court has ordered him to return 6,000 yuan ($950) he borrowed from a friend to pay "fees" to get into the act, the Shanghai Daily reported on Wednesday.
The man, surnamed Hou, said he saw a street advertisement in May last year, saying a 28-year-old, Jin Yue, was looking for a healthy man to make her pregnant.
In the ad, Jin claimed she and her rich husband were eager to bear an heir to inherit their family business but were unable to produce a child.
They wanted a man with a healthy body, good morality and no bad habits, and would pay him one million yuan.
Hou called and spoke to a woman who claimed to be Jin's cousin in Shangrao city, in east China's Jiangxi province.
He was persuaded to pay various sums, including 18,000 yuan for legal fees and 9,000 yuan for an air ticket and hotel room for the proposed liaison.
Hou was told Jin would pay him 100,000 yuan in cash and 200,000 yuan by bank transfer.
Hou only had 3,000 yuan in his bank account, so he borrowed 6,000 yuan from a friend.
However, Jin did not show up at the hotel and her 'cousin' switched off her phone after Hou transferred the money as instructed.
The friend brought the case to court after Hou, who was cheated out of 33,367 yuan, refused to pay the 6,000 yuan back, arguing it was a common investment.