73YO Uncle Selling Chicken Rice Wanted To Donate $1.65 But Gets $395 Stolen

Sometimes, bad things happen to the best of us, even when our intentions are good and pure. Unfortunately, this was what allegedly happened to a Chinese uncle who sold chicken rice.

According to China Press, on 26 September at Kota Bharu in Malaysia, a 73-year-old man named Liu Dingcai had about RM1200 (~S$395.26) stolen from him when he initially offered to donate RM5 (~S$1.65).

Here’s What Happened

Image: 4Travel

The victim owns a chicken rice store at Westlake Eating House in Kota Bharu, Malaysia where the incident happened at 11.30am. The man was minding his own business and selling chicken rice when two men approached him and asked him for donations.

According to these two men, they were collecting funds to build a temple in the area. Sounds like a pretty selfless thing to do, doesn’t it?

One of them was even holding a religious figurine. They seem to have come prepared with ‘props’ too to stage their whole act, imagine the thought that they put into this.

Victim Decided To Donate RM5

Image: China Press

The victim decided to donate RM5 (~S$1.65) to their cause out of goodwill. He proceeded to take the money out of his wallet and put it into their donation box, but something strange happened.

“I put the money in then one of them asked me to bow to the figurine while another touched my head and said this is a blessing, then he asked me to wash my hands,” Liu Dingcai said.

Now I don’t know about you but no one has ever touched my head or asked me to wash my hands after I made a donation.

However, the victim washed his hands and even handed the two men a piece of paper when asked to. He was then asked to place the piece of paper back into his wallet.

So many question marks in my head.

Image: Giphy

Victim Didn’t Notice His Money Was Missing 

Liu allegedly didn’t notice that his money was missing until the two men went off and a customer ordered chicken rice. He took out his wallet to give the customer his change but was surprised to find his wallet was almost empty.

The victim claimed that he had had ‘many pieces of RM50 (~S$ 16.47)’ inside his wallet. He estimates that he lost around RM1200 (~S$395.26) during the period that the two men had asked him for donations.

However, by the time he noticed that the money was missing the two men were already out of sight. They had presumably managed to steal the money during the entire commotion.

The victim has since made a police report.

This scenario reminds us of the importance of being vigilant. It’s really saddening that an innocent man became a victim.