CHINA TOPIX

12/22/2024 05:27:52 pm

Make CT Your Homepage

Angry Bank Customer Sprays Urine Over ATMs

Police in China's Zhejiang Province arrested a woman after she entered a bank and sprayed urine over the automated teller machines. 

The Thursday, August 14, incident occurred at 4:20 AM in the city of Ningbo just south of Shanghai. Reports say the woman was angry the bank staff would not honor a money transfer of 1000 yuan ($160) for her son in Jiangxi Province.

Like Us on Facebook

Wen Fang, whom reports identify as either 38 or 43, who can neither read nor write, had gone into the bank in late July with a request form filled out by her husband who was ill at the time and could not handle the matter himself. When bank workers realized she was illiterate and not the account holder, they, while sympathetic, told her they could not process the transaction out of concern of fraud, setting off a furious outburst from Wen who then stormed out.

"It is an open invitation to fraud if people try to get others to fill in their bank transaction slips. It is our policy not to accept them and staff behaved correctly," a bank spokesman said in a statement.

Trying to conclude the transfer at other banks and getting turned down at each one for the same reason, Wen took the term "pissed off" to a whole new level. Aiming to tarnish the institution's reputation and ward off customers, authorities say Wen began splashing ATMs from a bottle filled with her own urine. The vandalism proceeded over the course of the next two weeks, but Wen was apparently unaware security cameras were at the locations. Police were able to identify her from the gathered footage.

The woman was finally apprehended  by police after finishing her latest dousing at an Agriculture Bank of China, early Thursday morning.

Weibo commentators have been having a field day. Said on, "See how important knowledge (education) is! I was stunned, not because she's illiterate, but by her thought of shutting down a bank using a bottle of urine! Sister... you've thought too much!"

Real Time Analytics