Report: 'Lust, Caution' actress is victim of fraud

BEIJING (AP) — "Lust, Caution" actress Tang Wei fell victim to a $35,000 fraud after being persuaded over the phone to wire money to a suspect, state media reported Sunday.

Citing local police, the official Xinhua News Agency reported that Tang was filming in Shanghai on Saturday afternoon when she received a phone call and was persuaded to go to a bank and wire the 210,000 yuan ($35,000).

Xinhua said police in Shanghai's Songjiang district were investigating after receiving a report from Tang.

Calls to the Songjiang police propaganda office and Tang's Beijing-based agent rang unanswered Sunday.

Tang shot to international fame playing a Chinese student activist who seduces a Japanese-allied spy chief in the World War II-era thriller "Lust, Caution." Her politically sensitive role as a traitor in the 2007 movie led to a three-year reported blacklisting by Chinese film officials.