Bank teller steals cash to play lottery, replaces it with hell money
A bank clerk stole 142,800 yuan (HK$167,100) from his workplace and replaced it with “hell notes” to play a lottery, after already spending all his savings buying tickets, West China City Daily reports.
The 27-year-old man started working at an unnamed commercial bank in Ziyang, Sichuan province, in 2015, where he was responsible for automatic teller machine management and cash control.
The unnamed man learned of a lottery called Shishicai through QQ, a Chinese instant messaging service, and read of many people making money playing the game of chance.
He spent all his savings buying tickets, then started taking cash from the bank. He substituted hell money for the missing cash, intending to replace it once he won.
He took cash on about eight separate occasions between December 2015 and February 2016.
The man became anxious and confessed his crime to a colleague on WeChat, another Chinese instant messaging service, and the colleague then reported the crime to their employer.
The bank called the police after confirming the money was missing. The man was arrested despite his father repaying the stolen money the day the theft became known.
According to the People’s Procuratorate of Yanjiang district in Ziyang, although the money was repaid, man’s actions were still a crime and he would be charged.
