By Song Jingyu
A Chinese woman has been arrested for vandalism, after being persuaded by telecom fraudsters to pour cola into two ATM machines in a bid to retrieve money that had been stolen from her.
Zhang Ling (pseudonym), 33, played both victim and suspect in the absurd case in southwest China’s Chongqing municipality, according to a report by Chongqing Evening News.
The duped woman received a phone call from the scammer in November, claiming she had a 1,300 yuan phone bill. She was persuaded to call a designated "police station" number, and transferred 5,300 yuan (768 US dollars) to a bank account.
As she grew suspicious, the woman called the fraudster up the next day, asking for her money back. The swindler told her to dump cola into an ATM. With the ATM’s invoice, the fraudster said a police officer could help her retrieve her money.
Amazingly, Zhang followed the instructions, buying a cola and emptying it into the machine. Nothing happened, and the flustered woman rang up the cheater again, who instructed her to pour a second bottle of cola into the ATM. After getting a "receipt," the gullible Zhang then went to the police.
After being informed that she had been deceived, Zhang eventually realized that she had been fooled by the swindlers.
Beyond losing her money, the woman caused damage to two ATM machines worth nearly 60,000 yuan (8,688 US dollars).
“My family is so poor and I just wanted my money back at that time, so instead of thinking twice, I poured cola into it (the ATM). Now I think I’m really stupid,” the mother of two told a local newspaper, expressing her regret.
The telecom fraud case is still under investigation. Meanwhile, Zhang’s penalty for the banks’ loss is yet to be decided.
China’s Ministry of Public Security launched a nationwide anti-crime campaign on May 1, focusing on telecom and Internet fraud. According to the ministry, the country cracked down on 83,000 cases of telecom fraud in 2016, a year-on-year increase of nearly 50 percent.
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