- A Shanghai accountant who stole 6.3 million yuan (US$910,000) from her employer to pay off her son’s debts has gone viral on mainland social media
- The company only realised the money was gone when it noticed that the firm’s bank account balance was just 20 yuan
A 63-year-old accountant in China who stole 6.3 million yuan (US$910,000) from her employer to pay her 37-year-old son’s gambling debts, leaving just 20 yuan (US$3) in the company bank account, has gone viral on mainland social media.
The Shanghai woman and her son, identified in media reports by the aliases Bao Qihua and Jiang Xiaobin, respectively, are being prosecuted for fraud.
From 2019 until 2021, the accountant systematically took funds from her employer’s bank account, Shanghai TV reported.
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The company realised the money was gone and reported the theft to the police when it noticed that the company bank balance was just 20 yuan.
“It nearly drove me crazy,” the company owner, surnamed Li, told Shanghai TV.
Bao said she stole the money after her son asked her to take money from her long-time employer to help pay his gambling debts.
© Provided by South China Morning Post Police say that by taking the money in smaller amounts over a long period of time enabled the woman to avoid detection for so long. Photo: Weibo
“I really hadn’t thought of calling the police. If I did, his life would be ruined,” she said.
She added that it was not the first time she had helped her son pay off debt. In 2005 when Jiang was a university student, she gave him 300,000 yuan (US$43,300) to pay a gambling debt.
However, Jiang’s addiction to gambling continued, and he later wound up owing 1 million yuan. When he came to Bao for help, she sold her property to pay the debt.
In 2014 as her son’s gambling addiction took over both their lives, Bao began working with her son to clear the constant gambling debts. At this point, Jiang convinced his mother to steal 1.2 million yuan from her best friend, a woman surnamed Guo.
Jiang then spent the money on more gambling. In desperation, Bao decided to steal money from her employer.
© Provided by South China Morning Post The son, seen above during police questioning, says he feels remorse now that his mother has been caught stealing to pay his debts. Photo: Weibo
“She didn’t steal the money all at once; she did it over time on many occasions instead,” an unnamed police officer said in the report.
The officer said this made it difficult for the company to detect the disappearing funds until the account ran dry.
“I feel very sorry for my mother,” Jiang said.
At the time of writing, the news story post had received nearly 3.5 million views.
One person commented: “Parents have to teach their children to take responsibility for their mistakes. Otherwise, their lives might be ruined.”
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This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.
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