Weird WeChat robber transferred to jail

A man who robbed a woman of 800 yuan (US$116) at knifepoint, telling her to transfer the money to his WeChat account, was sentenced to four years for robbery, prosecutors in Jinshan District said Monday.

The man, Li, was also fined 4,000 yuan.

According to prosecutors in the bizarre case, Li ran out of money and went to a park near his residence around 11pm on February 2, where he found a woman using a smartphone on a bench.

A scarf masking his face, Li threatened the woman with a knife and forced her to hand over more than 400 yuan she had in her bag. Unsatisfied with the amount, he dragged her off and demanded she transfer money to him via WeChat.

Li told Zhao, the victim, to add him to her WeChat contacts and transfer another 400 yuan to his account. Zhao then returned home, changed the name on his WeChat account and cleared his transfer record.

However, he was easily traced by police and apprehended at home the next day, when he confessed, claiming he needed the money to go back to his hometown to spend Chinese New Year with his family.