Chinese man throws US$19,000 into the trash … and woman hands it in

A Chinese man who accidentally threw a plastic bag containing 124,000 yuan (US$19,600) in cash into the trash was thanking his lucky stars recently after a kindly neighbour found the money and handed it in to police.

The man, surnamed Wang, from Dalian in northern China’s Liaoning province, left his home earlier this month carrying two black plastic bags – one filled with household waste and the other with banknotes, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Sunday.

He planned to deposit the money in the bank later that day, so after dropping off the “trash” at a public waste collection point made his way to work. It was only when he got there and checked the bag he was carrying that he realised his mistake.

Wang raced back to the dump but was unable to find his cash, so he called the police, the report said.

After reviewing the footage from a surveillance camera, officers spotted someone discovering the bag filled with the money and walking away with it, but the images were not clear enough to make a positive identification.

Luckily for Wang, the person turned out to be a Good Samaritan who came forward after seeing the police’s appeal for information about the case, the report said.

“I couldn’t sleep well after finding such a big sum of money,” said the woman, who coincidentally shared Wang’s surname.

Delighted to be reunited with his money, Wang gave his neighbour a 2,000 yuan reward, the report said.