Credit Cards
Savings
Life Insurance
Car Insurance
Mortgages
Travel Insurance
Loans
Home Insurance
EnergyThieving bank manager hides in a cave for eight years
Filed under: News
Share
Text Size
A
A
A
Alexander F. Yuan/AP/Press Association Images
So is this the strangest tale of a bank robbery in recent years?
Your guide to banking
Crime
The robbery
Chen took the job back in 1995, but prosecutors say he couldn't resist helping himself. He soon bought himself a disco and supermarket - and like any self-respecting playboy, a shrimp farm and plastics factory. However, it wasn't all glamour: he also owned a five-story building in central Lingao and seven luxury cars.Unfortunately for him, in 2003, the financial black hole in the bank was discovered, and he was suspected of stealing £2.3 million.
Your guide to banking
Crime
When suspicion grew, he fled, and headed up to a cave in the hills nearby. He told state-owned newspaper Legal Daily: "When I found out that my case was the biggest in the province at the time, I panicked.
"I crossed a big river and hid in a cave up in the mountains with leaves covering my face. I could see some policemen searching for me with guns and dogs. I was terrified," he added.
Hiding out
Over time he built small tunnels under the cave, which he could hide in if he heard anyone coming. Unsurprising he got increasingly jumpy, and spent two months in one of the tunnels.He said he didn't think he could escape because he thought CCTV cameras would find him - but he did manage to visit his wife, Deng Qingmei, and their sons. She spent three years in prison during this time for helping to hide him.
He added: "Physical pain is not the worst. I missed my family so much. I have been living like a mouse in the past years and I would rather die." He gave himself up in November and is now on trial.
Odd robberies
It's a bizarre bank robbery story, but it's not the only one. Here are five of the oddest from recent years.1. A 79-year-old Rip Torn was charged with burglary and a number of other offences in 2010 after being found inside a closed bank with a loaded revolver. He explained he had been drunk and had broken in thinking it was his own home. He pleaded guilty to some of the charges - although not the burglary one - and was not jailed.
2. In 2008, police were called after an alarm was set off at a bank in Somerset County, New Jersey. After a three-hour stand off and negotiations - during which the suspect was seen in the window, behind drawn blinds, the police realised that the alarm had been triggered by accident. The 'suspect' turned out to be a cardboard figure of a woman.
3. As we reported yesterday, a Los Angeles manager was forced to rob her own bank when masked criminals strapped a bomb to her body and ordered her to remove funds from the safe.
4. A bank robber in Long Island in 2010 grew increasingly testy after deciding to hold up a bank wearing a Darth Vader mask. At one point one of the hostages started chatting to him and he replied "This is not a joke!"
5. A Cincinnati robber, wearing dark glasses and a hoodie, robbed six banks. While the police searched for the African-American perpetrator, the real white criminal removed the mask and escaped. Unfortunately for him he was caught a while later - his car still covered in dye from the booby-trapped money.
10 things we hate about our banks
- 1. PPI<p> More than 46,000 of 106,000 the complaints received by the FOS in the second half of last year related to payment protection insurance (PPI). And the organisation is expecting to receive a record 165,000 PPI complaints in 2012/2013.</p> <p> The huge numbers are due to the PPI mis-selling scandal that should now be a thing of the past, but there is no doubt that the insurance, which can add thousands to the cost of a loan, is highly unpopular!</p> <div> </div> <div> (Pictured: Martin Lewis after the PPI payout ruling)</div>
- 2. Mortgages<p> Complaints about mortgages jumped by 38% in the last six months of last year, the FOS figures show, compared to an increase of just 5% in investment-related complaints.</p> <p> Common gripes about mortgages include the exit penalties imposed should you want to sell up or change you mortgage before a fixed or discounted deal comes to an end, and the high arrangement fees charged by many lenders.</p> <div> </div>
- 3. Savings rates<p> While there is nothing in the data released by the FOS about the number of complaints relating to savings accounts, hard-pressed savers have been struggling with low interest rates for several years now.</p> <p> You can get up to 3.10% with Santander's easy-access eSaver account, but many older accounts are paying 1.00% or less and even this market-leading offer includes a 12-month bonus of 2.60% - meaning that the rate will plummet to just 0.50% after the first year.</p>
- 4. Borrowing rates<p> Banks are imposing the highest authorised overdraft interest rates since records began, with today's borrowers paying an average of 19.47%, according to the Bank of England.</p> <p> A typical Briton with an overdraft of £1,000 is therefore forking out around £200 in interest charges alone. Coupled with meagre returns on savings, it's enough to make your blood boil!</p>
- 5. Penalty charges<p style="text-align: left;"> While authorised overdrafts may seem expensive, going into the red without permission will cost you even more due to huge penalty fees.</p> <p style="text-align: left;"> Barclays, for example, charges £8 (up to a maximum of £40 a day) each time that there is not enough money in your account to cover a payment.</p>
- 6. International transfer charges<p> If you need to send money abroad, the likelihood is that your bank will impose transfer charges - and offer you a poor rate of exchange. Someone transferring a five-figure sum could easily lose out by £500 or more as a result.</p> <p> The good news, however, is that you can often get a better deal by using a currency specialist such as Moneycorp.</p>
- 7. Waiting on the phone<p> <span style="text-align: left; ">Automated telephone banking systems, not to mention call centres in far-flung parts of the world, are one of our top gripes - especially as we often encounter them when we are already calling to report a problem.</span></p> <p> In the words of one disgruntled customer: "What is it about telephone banking that turns me into Victor Meldrew? Well, maybe it's the fourteen security questions, maybe it's the range of products that they try to push or maybe it's because I'm forced to listen to jazz funk at full volume while my phone bill soars.</p> <div> </div> <div> "Actually though, I think it's because the people I eventually speak to rarely seem able to solve the issue I'm calling about."</div>
- 8. Being treated like a number<p> The days of a personal relationship with your bank manager are long gone - for the huge majority of us at least.</p> <p> When ethical Triodos Bank investigated recently why around 9 million Britons would not recommend their banks to a friend or relative, it found that almost a third felt they were not treated as individuals. Another 40%, meanwhile, were simply disappointed with the customer service they received.</p> <div> </div>
- 9. Long queues in branches<p> <span style="text-align: left; ">When you're in a rush, the last thing you want to do is wait in a long queue at your local branch.</span></p> <p> Researchers at consumer champion Which? recently found that most people get seen within 12 minutes, but you could have a much longer wait if you go in at a busy time. Frustrating stuff!</p> <div> </div>
- 10. Bankers' bonuses<p> The Triodos Bank research also indicated that the bonus culture that ensured the bank's high-flying employees received large salaries, even when it was making a loss at the taxpayer's expense, was hugely unpopular with consumers.</p> <p> About a quarter of those who would not recommend their current banks said this was the main reason why. And with RBS executives sharing a £785 million bonus pool despite the bank, which is 82% publicly owned, making a loss of £2 billion last year, it's not hard to see why.</p>
More stories
