China’s Biggest Bank Robbery
A lot of luck → A lot more trouble
6–27–17, Adil (written 7–7–17)
Fortune favors the bold, right? It certainly helped out Ren Xiaofeng. As it turns out, he must be one of the luckiest and stupidest people I’ve ever read about.
This fella was actually a bank manager at the Agricultural Bank of China (one of the “big four” banks in China). So, rewind back to October 2006. Ya boi must be running low on cash, so he comes up with a brilliant solution: steal some money from the bank he manages, buy a bunch of lottery tickets, win the lottery, return the original theft, and keep the change for himself. What could possibly go wrong?
And this is exactly what he does. Enlisting the help of 2 of his security guard buddies, he easily sneaks out US $26,000.
Here’s the kicker: he actually wins the lottery.
After a true u w0t m8 moment, while God must have been laughing upstairs, the story continues. Ren returns the $26,000, keeps the change. But, like Adilly himself, the man has now tasted the sweet goodness of gambling — albeit through a truly asinine medium.
So he decides to go back for round 2, with much higher stakes. Knowing this heist would be trickier, he gets another bank manager, Ma Xiangjing, to join him in his wonderfully thought-out endeavor. Over the course of March and April 2007, the two steal $4.3 million, or 32.96 million yuan. True to the plan, they spend almost the entire amount — 31.25 million yuan (95%)— on lottery tickets.
Alas, lady luck was on vacation out of China, and the bros got shafted. After this shocking twist where they don’t win the lottery, they naturally decide to double-down and steal some more. So they whisk away another $2.3 million (18 million yuan) on April 14, and they spend 14 million yuan in one day on lottery tickets. The folks selling lottery tickets reported record sales. Unfortunately for Ren and Ma, they only recouped about $12,700.
On April 16, other Bank manager folks discover the missing money and notify the police. Ren and Ma decide to use what little money they have left to buy fake IDs and cars, and they run away. An extensive manhunt ensued, with both dudes being placed on the “Most Wanted” list. Suboptimal to have 1.3 billion people seeing ya on the Most Wanted list….
Ma was arrested in Beijing on April 18, and Ren was found the next day in a coastal town in the Jiangsu province. They were both charged with embezzlement. In a brutal ending to our story, they were both sentenced to death, and both were executed on April 1, 2008.
The 2 security guards who let it happen were also charged with misappropriating public funds, and a fifth fella charged with harboring a fugitive (Ma). These three accomplices got up to 5 years jail time. A lot of people in the bank got fired. On the other hand, a landlord, taxi driver, and car saleswoman shared a 200,000 yuan reward (~$25k) for turning in Ren. Only 5.5 million yuan of the total 51 million yuan were ever recovered by the police.
At $6.7 million, this goofy robbery is the biggest in China’s history.
Lesson learned: always win the lottery.
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