A 33-year-old woman is expected to plead guilty after investigators say she ran one of the most brazen marriage scams Las Vegas has ever seen — collecting husbands, fake identities, and hundreds of thousands of dollars before police finally caught up with her.
Jiaying Chen, of Nevada, faces charges of bigamy and obtaining money under false pretenses exceeding $100,000, prosecutors said. She is currently in custody at the Clark County Correctional Center on a $100,000 bond.
Between 2019 and 2024, Chen applied for 14 marriage licenses at the Clark County Marriage License Bureau. Seven were issued — leaving her legally married to six men simultaneously, according to authorities.
How the Scam Worked
Investigators say Chen followed a calculated pattern. She would meet men on social media and dating apps, move quickly toward marriage, and then ask for large sums of money — claiming she needed to send funds to sick relatives in China.
Once she received the money, she would either annul the marriage or simply disappear.
One man lost $40,000. Another gave $23,000. A third handed over $20,000. One victim and his family saved up $30,000 after Chen told him she wanted to buy a house together. None of them got their money back.
Two weeks after one victim paid, Chen reportedly told him she “didn’t want to be married anymore to him.”
Caught With a Fake Identity
Police arrested Chen on June 4 after receiving a tip she was meeting another potential victim at a Las Vegas restaurant. When she was taken into custody, officers found a U.S. passport and a Nevada driver’s license — both bearing her photo but listing the name “Vicky Liang,” a fake identity tied to eight additional marriage applications.
Chen had previously been arrested in 2024 after the marriage bureau flagged her applications — but she posted bond and never appeared in court.
According to the arrest report, police believe Chen lost more than $300,000 gambling at a Las Vegas casino. Investigators say the money taken from victims appears to have funded her gambling habit — not sick relatives overseas.
Chen told police she targeted Las Vegas specifically because, in her words, “it is so easy to get married” there.
