A young man in Shandong province who thought he had joined the People's Liberation Army was shocked to discover that he had been recruited into a gang of criminals posing as PLA soldiers, according to a report in the New Express.

The deception was revealed when police conducted a raid on the criminal gang, which had been earning money through deception.

Chen Linmu, 21, was recruited into the gang three months ago, after his family family spent 570,000 yuan ($93,443) on banquets and gifts for people who said they could help him get into the PLA.

Chen was told that he would be working as a bodyguard for an army officer and was happy with his new job. However, the gang’s real business was earning money through fraud, work they carried out with the help of PLA uniforms.

Police discovered the gang when they arrived in Cangshan county, Shandong province, on Nov 15, dressed as soldiers and demanding police set free a gang member who had been arrested in the wave of a deception.

Police tracked down the gang and made the arrests, at which point Chen realized his mistake.