Chinese villager carrying machete makes persuasive case for swindlers to return money to elderly victims

Guangdong – A man in southern China has taken the law into his own hands – a machete he uses for work – to persuade a group of swindlers to return a large sum of money they had cheated from his elderly neighbours, a mainland newspaper reported.

Recently, many elderly residents in Zhenlong county had fallen victim to the gang, losing from 500 yuan to more 3,000 yuan each (US$72 to US$435), according to the Southern Metropolis Daily.

The victims were conned into buying expensive but non-effective health care products and nutritional supplements, police said.

When police caught up with the gang during a raid in the village on Saturday, one of the salesmen refused to refund the money and hid in a minivan.

At that moment, Liang Xiongzhi, a 44-year-old forest worker who lives in the village, cracked open the van’s window with his machete.