Around the Nation: Fake generals jailed for cheating bank manager of 13.5m yuan
PUBLISHED : Monday, 05 January, 2015, 4:06am
UPDATED : Monday, 05 January, 2015, 4:06am
The uniformed imposters had claimed to be setting up a bank on behalf of the Central Military Commission.
Beijing
Phoney generals jailed
Three men who pretended to be generals in an elaborate scam to cheat a bank manager of 13.5 million yuan (HK$17 million) were jailed for between 12 years to life, the Beijing Times reports. The three had claimed to be setting up a bank on behalf of the Central Military Commission. In August 2012, the uniformed imposters met the bank manager, named Li, at a hotel where they persuaded him to invest in the bank in return for being named manager of its Shanghai branch. Li made the deposit and when he did not hear from them again contacted police. Investigators found forged military stamps, fake uniforms and documents in the men's offices.
Unexpected journey
An 82-year-old man who accompanied a visiting relative aboard a train failed to get off before it departed, and was taken all the way to Nanjing , the Beijing Morning Post reports. They boarded the Shanghai-bound train at the Beijing South Railway Station on December 27. He had no mobile phone or identity card, but a conductor contacted the station in Nanjing, and arranged a temporary ID. He returned to Beijing the next day.
Guangdong
Boyfriend jailed
A Shenzhen man broke into his ex-girlfriend's apartment and stole her computer out of spite after they broke up, the Southern Metropolis Daily reports. The woman had asked the man to move out of the flat in June last year. In revenge, he stole the computer with the help of another man and sold it for 600 yuan (HK$760). He was jailed for 10 months and fined 1,000 yuan.
Landslide kills three
Three villagers in Leizhou have died in a landslide as they were digging a hole on a hillside to roast sweet potatoes, the Southern Metropolis Daily reports. A companion escaped and ran back to the village to find help. The victims were confirmed dead at the scene after being pulled out. Two were 16-year-old middle-school pupils, and the third, 23, was the father of a baby boy.
Fujian
Unlucky 13
A passenger in Fuzhou could not find her seat in carriage No.13 as shown on her ticket when she tried to board her train yesterday, the Southeast Express reports. The passenger bought a train ticket to Luoyang on the railway website, which showed her seat in carriage No13. But, as she was about to board the train, the conductor told her there was no carriage of that number. Officials said two carriages were taken off due to rescheduling, and that seats had been reserved in other carriages for passengers affected by the change, the report said.
Dog guards master
A dog guarded his drunken unconscious master for three hours on a street in Xiamen on Saturday, Qingdao Television reports. Urban management officers had to put the dog in a cage as it would not let anyone near its sleeping master, including medical staff. The dog was released after the man was sent to hospital.
Jiangsu
Toddler run over
An 18-month-old toddler in Suzhou survived after being run over by a car at the waist, the news website People.com.cn reports. The accident occurred in a sprawling market on December 26, and the boy was rushed immediately to hospital. Doctors said he suffered a fractured rib and bruising to the liver and lungs, but had fully recovered. Doctors said he might have been lying in a slight depression on the road, or was protected by his thick winter clothing.
A warm gesture
A migrant worker in Nanjing caught stealing a bed sheet from a supermarket, ended up being given two blankets by police, the Yangtse Evening Post reports. The worker came to the city to work on a construction site in autumn. The 50-year-old said he did not have enough bedding to keep him warm at night but could not afford the bed sheet because he had not received any wages. Police gave him the blankets after seeing his squalid dormitory.
Sichuan
Fooled with fakes
A 60-year-old Chengdu man was fooled into spending more than 200,000 yuan on "valuable collections" that turned out to be fakes, the Chengdu Commercial Daily reports. The man's daughter found about 50 fake items under his bed, including gold bars that could be broken in two by hand and a set of the "sixth series of renminbi banknotes made from gold". Authorities have never issued a sixth series of the banknotes. The man said he bought the collections from the salesmen because he wanted to leave a fortune for his daughter. Police are investigating the case.
Snow way to propose
A 26-year-old man from Chengdu, stripped to the waist, successfully proposed to his girlfriend in freezing weather at a campsite on New Year's Eve, the Chengdu Evening Post reports. The man, dressed only in shorts with the words "marry me" penned on his belly, knelt in front of his girlfriend in the snow for five minutes as he finished his proposal. The girlfriend was moved to tears and accepted, the paper reported. His story became a popular hit on the social media.
Shaanxi
Knock, knock
Residents of a gated community undergoing renovations in Baoji woke to find heavy machinery tearing down a wall in their block of flats on New Year's Day, the Huashang Daily reports. The machinery was found on the second floor of the building, gauging out a 2-square-metre hole. It had been in the building for almost a month, knocking out walls. Residents said the construction work had caused cracks in their apartments. The builders have promised to remove the machinery from the building.
Boy, 6, rolls into fire
A 6-year-old boy was severely burned in Lueyang county after rolling into an open fire in his bedroom, the Huashang Daily reports. The boy's mother said she left him alone on a bench less than one metre from the fire to go to the washroom. She returned minutes later to find the boy face down in the fire with his jacket and hat alight. He is being treated for severe burns to his face and neck.
Yunnan
Thief snatched instead
A robber in Kunming got more than he bargained for after snatching a necklace from a woman on Saturday, the City Times reports. The woman shouted for help after the loss of her 7,000-yuan necklace, and five people quickly moved to block the robber as he tried to flee the scene. Their efforts slowed him down sufficiently for police to arrest him.
Rough-handled at ranch
Two workers at a Lijiang horse farm have paid 60,000 yuan in compensation to a woman tourist for beating her up after she refused to ride a horse, the City Times reports. The woman went to the horse farm with her family last month. She said the staff would not let her family leave without paying 100 yuan per person, even though none of them rode the horse. She was then beaten by at least 10 people from the farm. Both sides reached a settlement following a police investigation.
