Man stole 150,000 RMB from ex-girlfriend while she slept

A man surnamed Huang was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison and fined 20,000 yuan(US$3,143) for theft according to a recent ruling of the Xingning District People's Court in Nanning City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Huang used facial recognition ID to transfer 150,000 yuan from his ex-girlfriend's smartphone by pulling back her eyelids while she was asleep.

The court's ruling showed that Huang, from Hepu County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, had accumulated a large amount of gambling debt. On the morning of December 26, 2020, Huang called his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Dong, claiming that she needed to repay more than 60,000 yuan she borrowed from him during their relationship. In the afternoon, Huang went to Dong's home and offered to cook for her and thoughtfully bring her medicine as she had the flu.

While Dong was asleep, Huang unlocked Dong's phone with her fingerprint, flipped open her eyelids, and transferred about 150,000 yuan (US$ 23,572) with her facial ID from Ant Credit Pay, Ant Cash Now, Alipay balance, and bank cards several times. Dong alerted the police the next day when she woke up and found the transfer records.

Alipay customer service responded that no similar situation had been reported in the past because facial ID will generally be disabled when the face is obscured. Users can enable multiple passcode locks and should be alerted immediately in similar situations.

Tips for mobile payment security

Do not install apps from unknown sources and do not scan unknown QR codes;

Use different passwords for different payment software;

Clean up payment information records and unbind your bank card when you change phones or delete apps;

Close mobile payment services on companies' webpages immediately if your mobile phone is lost and the ID card and bank card are also lost. Promptly inform the police and bank in the event of lost ID and bank cards.