By Horace Lu

A gang of 4 men has been arrested for faking a public bus to rob passengers in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, Yangcheng Evening News reports.

Here’s how it happened: A former bus driver in Shenzhen surnamed Xu was laid off during a redundancy. Together with three accomplices, he purchased a retired bus, repainted it and made it look exactly like a No. 868 Bus in Shenzhen. They even stole a licence plate of a real No. 868 Bus.

Any passenger who mistakenly got on the fake bus would be charged from 50 to 60 yuan and anyone who resisted would be beaten and thrown off the bus after the bus had moved to another district.

Police estimate that nearly 100 had been robbed in this way, but the exact number is hard to get since most victims would not report the case to the police for such a small amount of money.

In related fake news: Beijing News once reported a man faked an ATM in downtown Beijing which would give no cash but record bank cards’ number and passwords.

CCTV anchor Zhang Quanling says she once reported a fake ATM under the name of “=-China Development Bank. The “bank” located near a busy market had been enjoying a very good business until a staff of China Development Bank passed by.

Here in Shanghai, one such fake ATM has been spotted along Fahuazhen Road. Anyone seen others around town?



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