The suspect is questioned by police.

A woman has been detained after allegedly defrauding a friend over a deal for face masks, Shanghai police said on Friday.

The 29-year-old woman surnamed Wu allegedly accepted 178,000 yuan (US$25,300) from a friend, a man surnamed Ye, who was purchasing masks. Wu pocketed the money from Ye and told him that she had been defrauded by her supplier, police claim.

In a strange twist though, it was Wu who first contacted police.

Wu came to Changshou Road Police Station in Putuo District on February 13. She claimed that a WeChat contact who was selling masks took 188,000 yuan from her and Ye, but then severed contact without delivering the masks.

Through their investigation, police found that Wu had transferred 188,000 yuan to a bank account which belongs to someone surnamed Wang.

Police also managed to find the WeChat contact Wu mentioned, but the man surnamed Gao told authorities that Wu never paid him any money to buy masks. Gao’s account was later verified.

Gao had nothing to do with the person behind the bank account to which Wu transferred the money, according to the police.

Police believe Wu fabricated her story to police in an attempt to cover her own defrauding of Ye.

Wu was summoned to the police on February 15, and confessed to the fraud, authorities said.