The $1700 hoax to get Chinese to fight for Ukraine

THE men were called up to fight a war and earn $1700 a day. The deal, posted on social media, was too good to ignore. But all was not what it seemed.

A Ukrainian soldier secures an area outside the southern city of Odessa on May 9, 2014.

THE Chinese are ready to fight for Ukraine — for a tidy profit.

In the last week, an advertisement went out via Chinese social network, Weibo, urging mercenaries to contact the Ukraine embassy in Beijing if they were interested in fighting for $1700 a day (10,000 yuan), V ocativreported.

The post claimed the Ukraine Embassy was on the hunt for Chinese men to join a “volunteer army” to participate in the “war on the Crimean front”. The applicants must be over the age of 18 and without a criminal record. The men would need to undertake a “free week of training in China” before being sent to fight against Vladimir Putin’s Russian forces. The ad had the contact number of the embassy.

The hoax that fooled Chinese men.

The response was incredible, with the embassy reporting a call every few seconds and causing the switchboard to collapse from the amount of calls.

It seems the Chinese men would do anything to make the kind of money offered, which is vast in comparison to the average salary of $10,220. Another key factor, was a payout for the family in the case of death. The post read: “His family will be compensated in the amount of 800 thousand yuan (more than $130 million).”

Russia's President Vladimir Putin is accused of being behind the stunt.

Unfortunately for those hoping to get rich quick, it was flagged as a hoax by many on the social media platforms.

Others just didn’t want to give up the hope of huge earnings.

“I am also going,” writes user Ha Ha Qi Dao Ming Le. “Will work for one day and come back.”

The Ukraine embassy was finally forced to release a statement, urging calm among the Chinese population and denying any truth to the post.

“Due to appearance on May 6 in the Chinese social networks of some messages allegedly announcing the recruitment by the Ukrainian Embassy of Chinese citizens for participation in combat actions in Ukraine, the Embassy of Ukraine in China declares that the said information is a blatant lie and crude provocation.”

The authority also said an investigation will take place around “the circumstances and sources of this provocation”.

Whoever is behind the hoax could face imprisonment in China after new laws came into play in 2013 for people posting misleading or false information online.

Ukrainian security forces guard a checkpoint outside the southern city of Mykolayiv on May 9, 2014.

In March, Crimea was taken over by Russia with Vladimir Putin moving in his forces. This action set off the worst diplomatic crisis between the West and Moscow since the Cold War ended.

The ambassador for Ukraine in China has already pointed the finger about the origins of the hoax.

“I am 100 per cent sure that this is a provocation organised by the secret services of Russia specifically to negatively affect the image of Ukraine and make some trouble, dirt in the relations between Ukraine and China,” he said to local news agency, UKRINFORM.

Mr Demin believed the purpose of the ad was to cause outrage among Chinese nationals, who would then stage a protest. If this is the case, the plan backfired dramatically — with the Chinese more than happy to help.

Pro-Russian activists sit on a Ukrainian tank on May 10, 2014 in Mariupol, south-eastern Ukraine.