China Man Arrested For Swiping Rs 3.5 Lakh In Temple Donations By Switching QR Codes

A university student in China has been arrested for stealing donation money from Buddhist temples in a number of provinces by changing their receipt QR codes to his own. According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the man confessed to the cops that he had stolen more than $4,200 (approximately Rs 3.5 lakhs) from the temples in the southwestern provinces of Sichuan and Chongqing and the northwestern Shaanxi province this year. He is believed to have a master's degree in law from one of the country's most prestigious universities, police said. 

According to SCMP, the incident came to light after police released video footage of the man at Famen Temple of Baoji City this month. The surveillance video showed the man kneeling in front of a statue of Buddha that was next to the donation box, along with other visitors. He pasted a piece of paper with his personal QR code over that of the temple's code on the box. He then bowed towards the Buddha three times, before putting a banknote in the box and leaving the temple. 

After the police caught the man, he confessed he had applied the same technique to steal from other Buddhist institutions in other provinces. All the money he took was returned, the police said. 

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On social media, the story of the man has taken the internet by storm. Reacting to it, one user wrote, "A Chinese saying goes that there is a deity above us, so we should not do bad things. Now this should be changed into that there is a surveillance camera above us." "He studies law, but still breaks the law," said another. 

Meanwhile, in a similar incident, a Chinese man was arrested in July this year for sneaking into a temple and breaking into the donation box several times. Also, a man in Shanghai was arrested last year for stealing money from a box in a Buddhist nunnery. He reportedly defended himself by saying that he had just borrowed the cash after receiving approval from Buddha whose hand gesture signified that "it is ok to do that".