From Mop:
Thank you Chengdu thieves! Your professional character is admirable and I salute you! I will learn from you!
This morning was the first time I’ve had my wallet stolen, I just couldn’t believe it. But on the other hand what happened afterward made me both sad and moved!
This is what happened: On the morning of November 15 2009, I got up and because it was the weekend decided to go to the market to buy some food to reward myself. But after I bought the meat and was just about to buy the vegetables, I felt for my wallet and found that it wasn’t there. I felt so stupid, all of my cards were in there. Then I ran to the local police station to let them know, and ask them to cancel my ID card. – I was afraid that someone would use it to commit a crime (I wasn’t worried about my bank cards, but replacing them would be a pain). When I got to the police station and was asked what I needed, the policeman first asked how much money was in the wallet, I said seven hundred RMB, he said that I hadn’t lost much money and his tone became less helpful (But the cards which were in the wallet were really important). I said that I wanted to cancel my ID card, the lovely police lady said that I couldn’t do that without first putting an ad in a newspaper. But I’d lost all my damn possessions, how could I pay for an ad in a newspaper? I started to feel down. I shook my head and left. As I walked out I thought crap, why didn’t the “pol.ice” ask me to make a report (If I made a one, if someone else took my ID and committed a crime I couldn’t be held responsible)? I angrily went back and said that if I wanted to make a report I could, couldn’t I? And only then did they arrange for someone to take my statement. What do you think of that? Seems like next time I’ll need to say that I’ve lost tens of thousands, only then will people take notice of me! Ya….
But what happened after moved me and made me admire what real professional attitude is! After I left the police station, I returned to where my wallet had been taken, to see if the thief had taken the cash and abandoned the rest of my wallet or not, I went back to the market, public areas near it, rubbish bins, and recycling areas many times, when I got there a few uncles and aunties who sell meat called out to me, saying buddy your wallet and cards are all here. As soon as I saw I couldn’t believe it, an envelope containing my insurance card, accumulation fund card, bank card, ID card, work card and everything, please note that they were all put in an envelope. In addition to thanking those market sellers, what I want to say even more is…!
This thief’s professionalism makes you admire him, I want to thank the thief who stole my wallet, now this is real professionalism, and I must learn from you…!
Also, readers who lose their wallets, don’t just go to the police station, look around the general area for what you’ve lost (except for the cash), their professionalism will move you!
Comments from Mop:
我考UFO:
Looks like thievery is a profession with a future.
忧郁的夏天:
Right now the quality of thieves is going up while the quality of poilice is going down. Ya!
wind2wen :
If all thieves were like this, it would mean that society is improving..
13694204195 :
Economically speaking, the competition among thieves is great, so they are the buyers, police are sellers, there is no competition, so you need to beg them…..
狙狂小王爷 :
Nowadays the thieves are indeed better than the “pol.ice”.
wzm721226 :
It’s a harmonious society, but the police aren’t harmonious.
尘世过来人 :
Actually this is quite good, I don’t want to condemn thieves, I just hope that when I lose my wallet someone gives me back my ID card and other stuff.
yzedhh :
The ZF is the biggest organised crime gang.
★风〃间〃澈☆ :
If I lose my wallet, my greatest hope is that I encounter a thief like this… last time I lost my wallet, I only lost a hundred kuai, but replacing everything inside cost me around three hundred… depressing…
candy的雪花树。 :
Actually this kind of thing happened to a friend of mine, what happened was that her wallet was stolen, and she cried and cried, because it was her living expenses for half a year, then I’m not sure if the thief was looking at her from somewhere crying non-stop, then he threw it in a corner, inside it half was missing, but also remaining was a note, it said “student, you have to look after your wallet, it’s not easy for mum & dad to make money”, that’s right, that friend was a student from a poor background,
dxawuk :
I wasn’t as lucky as you, a few days ago I lost a wallet that had no cash in it, but all my cards and ID were in it, I made a notice but didn’t get it back, that was pretty sad.
艾露恩的星星 :
The one from the police station wasn’t right! Who said that you need to make a newspaper ad to cancel your ID?
If you lose your ID, go directly to the Identification Office in your place of residence.Get a form to fill out.
With that form go to the specified place for a photo. Give them the form and 15 kuai or so.
Wait three months and it’s sent to you.It doesn’t take more than 20 minutes.
看破红尘恋红尘 :
In August this year I was in Shenzhen and I also had my wallet stolen. All my ID and cards were in it. Also a plane ticket for that day. I couldn’t believe it. I spent half the day looking around for it. As I was on the point of collapsing, a wallet wrapped in a plastic bag fell down from an overpass. I opened it and looked: all the ID was there, even the plane ticket was there. A half set of commemorative Hong Kong currency was there too. There was even 15 or so kuai in small bills. Only around a thousand kuai was missing. Faced with my wallet, which I’d lost and found again I shouted loudly at the bridge “Thank You Brother!” Suddenly I noticed a young guy grinning at me. I immediately sprinted towards him, chasing him for about ten minutes, finally as I was about to give up that thief collapsed on the railing panting and it was then that I grabbed him. I took off my belt and tied his hands together, then took back my money, boxed his ears, got my belt back, threw some money for medicine at him, then took a taxi to the airport.
牛最大 :
I really feel for you, one morning I was so stupid, I was on the net and I got a message that I’d won a phone, I had to send 500 kuai as a deposit, I was stupid so I borrowed some money and sent it over, shit, as soon as I sent it I woke up to what I was doing, and told the bank to help me get the money back but they said it was impossible, then in anger I went to make a police report, at the time I heard that Wuhan had a special online division, I thought that was quite advanced, but they said that the amount of money that I’d been conned out of was too small, if the amount was less than 20,000 they wouldn’t take on the case, damn, if there were a lot of people conned, but each was only 500 kuai, would the amount still be too small? But at that time I finally realised, in this great place, if you con people you just have to con them out of a little money and it’s not against the law, brothers who don’t have any money or any job think about that for a while…
Have you had your wallet stolen by a thief or pickpocket who later returned it?
Note: Images of pickpockets are not related to the original story.
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Wow, this is really odd. I would professionally punch him in the face.
Like your reply!
Chinese comments on this post seem to encourages the thiefs. That the police in China is corrupt and useless is known, but it almost seems as if Chinese want to be robbed.
lol, quote:
“i do this too, steal wallet, copy the id, dump wallet sans money so i can steal the persons id. I get $500us per id”
Ugh, 2nd from the bottom. Way to convince thieves NOT to give your things back, ever.
I get the feeling that was more of an Internet Tough Guy’s version of a “Dear Penthouse” letter.
I’m more surprised that it didn’t end with him having sex with Gong Li and winning the gold medal in the 110 meter hurdles.
Speak for yourself. I’m a professional Chinese pickpocket, and I can’t count the number of times people have caught me, tied me up with their belt and then boxed my ears. I’m not going to stop giving people’s ID cards back; I’ve got morals, you know.
Wait? When did professional pick pockets learn this good english and why aren’t looking for a job that suits their high moral better?
A country dictated by twisted government breeds nothing more than bunches of twisted people of twisted tastes
Shit sure is weird in China @.@
I read the exactly same story before, but in Changsha and Qinzhou. Not sure which version is true.
http://bbs.qinzhou360.com/thread-83252-1-1.html
http://www.5hp.cn/bbs/viewthread.php?tid=13135&sid=oayxHC
im sorry but i want more of the crude, rude, and things that would make it on fox news. like perverted girls translated or things of this matter its too interesting however loathing it may be to some
操
Learn Chinese and find it yourself!
Right on. By the way, 肏 is the proper way to write cao4, but it seems the government has suppressed the character and it’s not on cell phones.
“Have you had your wallet stolen by a thief or pickpocket who later returned it?”
what about chinasmack personals? i miss the supersubversial ads
Wanna find someone who will role play cop/criminal with you? Try chinaSMACK personals. <_<
supersubversial?
Come on guys, this is an easy one.
Wanna have your virginity stolen and your phonecalls not returned? Try chinaSMACK personals.
Nice and supersubversial, just the way you like it.
I would rather just not get stuff stolen.
Giving stuff that you don’t need back doesn’t make it any less wrong.
Okay so in china, theives are more pro/ helpful than police officers. What a awkward society.
I had my wallet and phone (in a backpack) stolen in Guangzhou once when I was playing football. Lost all my cash, cards, numbers and messages. Come to think of it, I would’ve really appreciated if the thief returned my cards and SIM card.
So I don’t think it’s weird. It makes you look at things in perpective. What’s lost is lost. What matters is not money, but much time and relations.
The thief was after cash rather than the sophisticated type who would be committing identify fraud and credit fraud. Its nice to be able to find the wallet mostly intact with the bank cards and other personal cards but its good to get them re-issued as to have peace of mind and know 100% it hasn’t been copied or skimmed.
Need to put your wallet in your jockstraps. ROFL.
This is the general difference in crime between America and China. In America, they kill you and take your money.
Yeah, why don’t we ask the father of the US Volleyball Coach… oh, wait, no he was stabbed to death during a robbery in Beijing.
Yeah… A successful robbery that ended in the murderer committing suicide from the top of the Bell Tower.
sounds like a fake.Those “”50cents” guys did a good job though
I wonder how we can get our thieves to learn from the Chinese?
Some sort of pickpocket exchange programme?
that’s good, it’ll put the Spanish foreign language majors to work.
was holidaying in china & i had my camera stolen out of my pocket. i walked passed a bunch of guys holding banners & what not & thats when they swiped it. anyway, i didn’t want to accuse. i walked back & forth hoping they returned my memory card but that didn’t happen. they took it all. muthafockers!
went to the police to file a report but they were more interested in learning english. wtf!
I thought thieves and police are the same in China… But now the thieves got a better rep. C’mon China police, now it’s your turn to do something to even up the score.
That’s an amazing story, but isn’t it possible the thief just grabbed the cash and the wallet and threw everything else on the ground, at which time the sellers picked it all up and put it in an envelope for you? I mean, maybe the thief just grabbed what he could use and the only people here deserving any kudos at all are the market sellers?
Not sure I would keep and keep using a bank card if it had been away for a little while. It’s not exactly hard to copy the info on it and either make a fake card or use it for digital trading. If you keep using it while the thief has a copied card you could potentially be in big trouble, especially since you haven’t got any proof that the card was “stolen” a month ago when you get a humongous creditcard statement.
I watched a film about an Indian pickpocket. They train for months with senior pickpockets, in order to snatch wallets effectively. They’re all really young men, and kids, and when they go through the wallets they divide the booty, and someone is assigned to mail the wallets back.
It is really interesting that the pickpocket in this case was far more helpful than were the police . . .
-d
Oh, how great it is to be robbed! Next you’ll be saying that when you got beaten up, the guy who beat you up was kind enough to send you to the hospital… (I’d be happy to pay your taxi fare to hospital if I got the chance to punch some sense into you.)
Isn’t it obvious thet the thief just wants the cash and hope that you won’t report it because its too much trouble, so that they can go on robbing people without getting caught.
Are you one of those guys who thinks cheating – like in exams – is ok – as long as you get away with it? Let’s leave the corruption to the state and try hard to be good, honest people.
Note: Being good DOES NOT include stealing and returning useless bank and ID cards!
A truly professional thief would return the cards so that you wouldn’t immediately cancel them, allowing him to use the copied-down numbers and security codes to make purchases for at least a full month.
Its because there are many easy people to pick pocket from they usually don’t choose me! My wallet is my front pocket where its easier to protect. I see many wallets bulging out from people’s rear pockets. Why is it so common to put the wallet in the rear pocket? Its a blind spot, unprotected and very vulnerable!
One day i felt a hand went into my rear pocket. Someone really did pick my pocket! Thank god all he stole was a pack of tissues! But that is the pocket they will shove their hand in because its so much easier! And that’s where most people put their wallet for some wierd reason!
I mean don’t you have friends that bend over and you can see a nice view of their wallet in their back pocket? Seems tempting and pretty sure any pick pocket theif will take the chance!
what if the market ppl are in it with the thief?
‘
A new industry in the making? This should inspire the proactive among the Chinese to attempt to ‘re-possess’ items stolen from the Summer Palace being illegally sold, held or displayed by governments elsewhere.
With this possibility in mind, any former invaders holding cultural items, can choose to return artifacts to Beijing honestly in gestures of goodwill, or wait for potential Repo-Men to collect.
As for the legality, something already stolen and being returned to it’s rightful owner is in fact a wrong being righted. An action that deserves to be rewarded not punished. Any small timers ready to become ‘Charlie’s Angels’ or organizers like ‘Charlie’ out there?
Er… does the poster not realise that the thief possibly copied all his details and information before handing it all back?…
The mafia are more helpful than the police in some parts of Yunnan
I have a wallet with a chain attached to my belt loop. Never been pickpocketed. A simple solution. But China is not a logical place so you probably can’t buy wallets with chains there.
I always keep my wallet in my front pocket, but I caught a thief reaching his hand into my coat pocket once and I turned his arm around his back until it broke at the elbow, then I just walked away. Let’s see him steal with a broken arm.
Hey Mop,
The only professionalism I see in the incident is that the thief was able to steal your wallet without you noticing. There is no professionalism in the return of the wallet. It is more like the guilt was too much for the person to bear, someone saw the act and was able to convince the culprit to return the wallet or perhaps worse is that the motive was to steal your identity, in which they may well have done. Also, I would not be surprised if some of the stall keepers were part of the crime. Hey, you got to think outside of the box, you know what I mean.
And look, for the record, I feel pity and sad for those who have to steal to survive. Not everyone has the privilege to be brought up in a wealth abundant family.
Hrmm, Mop, you seem like someone who is maturing and learning about the construct of society. But I do thank you for sharing your experience with us.
great view i like your story