Woman in China calls police after returning lost phone to owner and receiving bogus banknotes as reward
- Woman finds mobile phone, contacts owner, returns property
- Given red packet, contains banknotes used to train bank clerks
A woman in China was shocked after she returned a lost mobile phone to its owner then discovered her “reward” was made up of fake banknotes.
The woman in the country’s southeastern province of Guangdong posted a video clip on her Douyin account, @zhaoziyun, of the bogus bills that clearly showed “practice coupon” printed on them.
She said she had returned the lost iPhone to its owner the day before and had received a red packet containing 3,100 yuan (US$430) as a reward.
It was only the next day when she opened the packet that she found it contained notes used by bank clerks to practise money counting.
The woman called the police, saying the behaviour was “insulting” and they contacted the owner of the phone who admitted the imitation money was given intentionally.
Yi Xu, a lawyer from Hunan Jinzhou Law Firm, told the mainland media outlet Xiaoxiang Morning Herald that paying fake money as a reward could constitute fraud.
The woman insisted she had not asked for a reward, but a local official told the online media outlet Jimu News that the owner’s “gift” was an angry reaction because the woman had initially refused to return the phone.
Meanwhile, @zhaoziyun also posted surveillance video footage from 10 days before of two women at her door, one of whom was claiming she was the owner of the lost phone.
The unexpected turn stunned online observers who changed their attitude and said the woman deserved to get the fake money as a punishment.
China’s Civil Code states that the finder of any lost property should report it and return it to the owner in a timely manner.
It also states that the owner should pay the finder “necessary expenses”, such as the cost of keeping the item safe, and fulfil their promise of a reward when retrieving the lost property.
But if the finder holds on to the item after finding it, they have no right to claim a reward.
In January, a taxi passenger in southeastern China who refused to pay the driver an agreed 20 yuan (US$2.8) for returning the phone she had left in his car, got a shock when he drove to a police station 18km away, taking her phone with him.
There were police stations nearer, but it would cost the woman 100 yuan to get to the station to retrieve her phone. The driver said he intended to punish her dishonesty without breaking the law.
