A knife-wielding man was filmed flogging a woman with an electric cable in the middle of a busy street.
The assailant has been identified as 36-year-old Tian Mougguo while the woman has been identified as 34-year-old Shao Shuang.
It is understood that he beat the woman while accusing her of scamming him out of £200K.
The beating was filmed on a phone camera by a bystander on October 10 in Wudi County, in eastern China’s Shandong Province.
Witnesses watched as Mougguo beat the woman for eight minutes. He threatened the public to stay back while brandishing the knife.
Mougguo accused Shuang of scamming him out of more than two million Chinese Yuan (£226,000).
In a video, too graphic to show, he can be heard screaming at the woman to “pay him back”.
He shouted: “You cheated me out of over 2 million! You think you can run away? Pay me back! Pay me back!”
Shuang attempted to escape multiple times but failed as Mougguo held her tightly in place. She was repeatedly whipped as she lay on the bustling street.
According to local media, police confirmed the woman had scammed several people, including Mougguo. However, the force stated vigilante justice is not acceptable.
Following the assault, police were called and managed to disarm the knife-wielding vigilante.
Officers from Haifeng Police Station took Shuang to the hospital for treatment. She is currently in stable condition.
Mougguo was arrested and remains in police custody.
According to reports the pair met through a WeChat group earlier this year, Shuang then invited him to a financial chat. He claims that she used fake investment and financial information to con him out of the money.
Initially, he only invested a few thousand and successfully withdrew some commissions. Thinking the app was reliable, he continued to invest more substantial amounts.
One day, however, he suddenly found his account balance reduced to zero and was unable to log into the app. When he reported the case to the cops, he discovered there were many other victims.