A distraught woman in China killed herself and her children because she thought wrongly her husband had died.

He had actually faked his own death in an insurance scam without telling her.

The man, identified only as Mr He, 34, had allegedly driven a car into a river last month to make it appear he had died, after taking out an insurance policy worth around $200,000 with his wife as the beneficiary.

Police discovered the car ten days later, but never found his body.

A week ago his wife, known only as Mrs Dai, 31, believing her husband was dead, killed herself and the couple’s children, aged three and four.

She said she wanted her family to be together, before drowning herself and her children in a pond.

She had posted a suicide note on social media.

According to the China Daily, the note said her husband's family had blamed her for his disappearance, saying she did not have a job and spent too much money.

He is reported to have been $20,000 in debt, but said in a social media post he'd borrowed money for medical treatment for one of the children.

But she said she took care of the children and said her spending was “reasonable.”

"I want to use my life to prove myself," she wrote.

China Daily reports the man has now been arrested after handing himself in to police.

The case has fascinated China, with a hashtag #ManFakesDeathLeadingtoWifesDeath generating 29 million views on Chinese social media site Weibo, reports the BBC.