A NANSHAN man was arrested recently for spending nearly 100,000 yuan (US$12,820.51) using a debit card he picked up on a Shekou street, the Nanshan District Procuratorate confirmed yesterday.

The man, surnamed Tu, is a native of Shaoguan, eastern Guangdong Province. He could be charged with stealing because he spent a large sum of money that does not belong to him, said Liu Shan, an official with the procuratorate.

Tu was arrested last Tuesday after police tracked him down with the help of the images captured by surveillance cameras near the ATM machines.

Shekou police received a report from a Briton on Jan. 13 that he had found his wallet missing in the early hours of the morning. The wallet contained a China Post Savings (CPS) debit card, his ID card, and mainland and British driver’s licenses. When he reported his bankcard missing at noon that day, the Briton found the nearly 100,000 yuan in his bank account had been taken.

During interrogation, Tu admitted that he picked up the wallet at around 1 a.m. He immediately went to meet his sister to try and work out the pin number of the debit card. The two got it right after trying several numbers on various cards in the wallet, and took out 5,000 yuan — the maximum withdrawal allowed in a day. Later they transferred another 50,000 yuan to their own bank account.

The two went to a Sinopec gas station in the morning and bought gas worth 1,500 yuan using the card. Then they purchased mobile phones, digital cameras, laptops and electric bicycles before throwing the card in a dustbin.(Li Dan)