Robbing malls blind ends up in penalty box

A woman was sentenced to six months, with a one-year reprieve, after stealing 73 manghe, or blind boxes, the Shanghai Pudong Court said on Saturday.

Blind boxes have become popular in recent years. Toys with different fashion designs are put in boxes with the same packaging. Buyers don’t know what they get until they open it.

Buying blind boxes, to some extent, is like buying a lottery ticket because some toys are rare.

The woman, surnamed Wang, stole mystery toy boxes six times over two weeks at shopping malls Metro City in Xuhui District and Super Brand Mall in the Pudong New Area, the court said.

The boxes were worth 4,000 yuan (US$620).

Wang was arrested after she bought several blind boxes then took 10 blind boxes without paying. A salesclerk saw through her trick and called the police.

Wang said she sold all products she stole because they were not the rare ones.

She admitted her guilt, compensated the economic loss of the victim and obtained forgiveness, the court said.