She was able to do her job for years. Since 2019, she has been writing pages full of information about Russian coins, non-existent wars and states, people and documents. Vice News calls it one of the biggest hoaxes on the platform ever. In total, the woman manufactured 206 articles. She single-handedly questioned the methods Wikipedia uses to distinguish fact from fiction on the platform.
She was eventually exposed by the Chinese novelist Yifan, who was doing research for a book he was writing. He landed on a page that was about a silver mine. This mine was discovered by Russian citizens in 1344. It employed more than 40,000 slaves and set free. At least that’s what the scammer wrote. The mine turned out to be a gold mine for several Russian regimes, it was said. She had even gone so far as to describe in detail the composition of the soil, the structure of the mine and the refining process. Very interesting for a story, Yifan thought. But what he didn’t know was that he had entered a completely different world created by a user named Zhemao.
She fooled readers by referring to very complicated sources, such as a large series of books by ancient Russian writers. Or she showed pictures of coins that she had been given by a team of archaeologists. She also linked to her own articles, creating a web of lies. All of her Wikipedia pages fit together seamlessly, including references to (invented) sources. She created fake accounts that promoted her pages and gave them more authority. “Her stories were so detailed that she easily beat the Russian and English Wikipedia,” Yifan wrote on a Chinese website. An account – from Zhemao – reported that she knew Zhemao personally.
Award in recognition
She had thought carefully about coming up with her backstory. She was the daughter of a Chinese diplomat stationed in Russia, and married to a Russian. She obtained a university degree in world history from Moscow State University. She recently added that she was a pacifist who disapproved of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Her fabrications even earned her an award from Eric Liu, a history student and involved with Wikipedia since 2015. He labeled her a Wikipedia star earlier this year for her contribution to the platform. “I’m very sorry I didn’t realize what she was doing. It feels like I was involved in this scam.”
She finally fell through the cracks when Yifan decided to check her referrals. Pages of books she cited did not exist. The conflicts described by her could not be found in Russian literature. A large group of Wikipedia users decided to dig through her articles and then the curtain fell.
Several languages adopted
Her actions were not without consequences. Descriptions about the deportation of Chinese in the Soviet Union have been reproduced in several languages. Most of her articles have since been removed when users discovered her lies. A Wikipedia spokesperson told Vice News that these kinds of practices don’t happen often, but they do happen. “Volunteers review additional articles that may also have been made up.”
The fraudster said in a statement that she regrets her actions. “In the future, I will stop doing these useless things and learn a trade,” said a shameful Zhemao.