A man who allegedly claimed to be a staff member of the China International Import Expo and cheated five people out of more than 1,000 yuan (US$148) by promising them expo tickets has been arrested, the Qingpu District People's Procuratoratesaid Thursday.

Prosecutors said one victim, surnamed Li, searched forexpoticket information online and came across a seller, surnamed Lei. After he paid 280 yuan, Lei promised to meet him at the National Exhibition and Convention Center to give him the ticket on November 6. However, when Li arrived at the exhibition center a few days later, he lost contact with Lei and then reported it to local police.

Lei was soon nabbed by police, and told officers that he was addicted to gambling on football and overdrew his bank accounts after losing a large amount of money. Through the online scam, he cheated over 1,000 yuan from five victims.

Further investigation showed that this isn't the first time Lei has taken advantage of exhibitions to cheat money.

In April 2017, Lei sent a forged invitation to a machinery company under the name of an exhibition service agency and invited the company to attend an exhibition held in November. He offered the company two booths to rent, netting 60,000 yuan.