I'm Kento Bento.
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Handan, China
October 10th, 2006.
It was getting dark.
The vault manager of the Agricultural Bank of China was on edge.
He was afraid.
He felt something wasn't quite right.
Yes, there were two security guards patrolling the grounds,
which made him feel safer.
But as vault manager, he needed to be sure himself.
He checked the printer room, the conference room.
There was no one there.
No sign of trouble.
Then he entered the vault.
(door squeaking)
Where everything was also fine.
The money was there.
The bank's security system was down.
In fact, everything was just as he planned.
He started counting the money, but he knew he had to be quick.
The paranoia was starting to get to him.
He shoved the cash in his duffel bag
and swiftly left the vault.
For Ren Xiaofeng, it was good to be the man in charge.
It made robbing the Agricultural Bank of China
that much easier.
But he still had to be careful.
He wasn't out of the woods yet.
He cautiously made his way to his car,
but then suddenly, flashlights.
It was the two security guards.
They had spotted him.
They glanced down at his duffel bag and asked
if he got the money.
You see, it was smart to enlist the help
of the two security guards, as it made him feel safer.
He dumped the bag of cash in the car and made no attempt at a getaway,
not yet, because his shift wasn't over.
As vault manager,
he still had about an hour left on the clock.
The next day, at home, he was relieved.
He had the cash in his possession was 200,000 yuan,
which actually wasn't all that much.
At the time, this was the equivalent of about $26,000 U.S. dollars.
Now, however, this wasn't the end of his plan.
Later that day, he made his way down the street
to a lottery vendor where he purchased a large quantity
of lottery tickets.
He did the same across the city - across Handan
with numerous vendors buying in bulk,
for this was his plan.
He was using the stolen money to buy lottery tickets
in the hopes of winning a sufficiently large prize.
Large enough to be able to return the missing funds
before anyone noticed they were missing.
The idea was the still have money leftover for himself.
That was his plan.
And if you haven't already figured it out,
that is a stupid plan.
Why?
Because the math simple doesn't add up.
Lottery tickets are designed to cost more
than the expected gain.
The chances of winning back more than you put in
and on this sort of scale is extremely low.
If it were that simple, then everyone would be doing it.
Despite the stereotype, this wasn't apparent to Ren.
Now you saw the title of this video.
This is meant to be a great heist.
And well, part of the reason that's the case is because
despite the unfavorable odds, Ren won.
The plan actually worked.
He was able to return the 200,000 back to the vault
and still pocket a large sum himself.
It all went smoothly, swift and efficient,
like a snap of a finger.
Celebrations were abound as the heist
was a genuine success.
And so with the banking staff none the wiser,
Ren settled back and watched the sunrise.
Now some people would move on, but not him.
Five months later in March 2007,
emboldened by his initial success,
he felt it was time for a round two.
This time though, his ambition was much greater.
The Agricultural Bank of China after all was one of the
big four banks in China and their vaults were loaded.
He wanted more.
So much more in fact, that he couldn't do it alone.
He still had the two security guards in his back pocket,
but they were just lookouts.
He needed someone in-bank who could help move the money
and to shield his activity from the rest of the staff,
at least till they could return the funds.
The missing 200,000 previously had gone unnoticed by the banking staff.
But this time around, if say, Ren were to wipe out 50%
of all money in the vault, it would be obvious.
Now, there was only one person Ren had his eye on,
and that was Ma, the other vault manager.
As he of all people was sure to notice the missing funds.
And so he had to bring him on board.
This was certainly a risk.
But fortunately for Ren, Ma was game
end game-
no.
Okay, it was time for the heist.
The second heist.
This one lasted much longer.
During the months of March and April, Ren and Ma
secretly carted out over two tons of cash,
the equivalent of 33,000,000 yuan,
or at the time $4.3 million U.S. dollars.
Now, by this point, the inconsistencies were adding up
and despite bringing Ma in, some of the staff members
were starting to notice.
It wasn't long before police were notified.
This was looking bad.
But as vault managers, Ren and Ma were able to use their sway
and come up with temporary excuses
which everyone seemed to buy.
They insisted, this sort of misplacement error happens from time to time
and that it was no big deal.
The money was sure to turn up sooner rather than later.
Of course, this was their attempt at buying time
as they had yet to scratch out all their lottery tickets.
And it was a lot of tickets.
33,000,000 yuan worth - of piles and piles that
would put MrBeast to shame.
Over the many weeks, the two bought and scratched out
lottery tickets on an unprecedented scale.
Now, this time, shockingly, the lottery did what lotteries
are supposed to.
And they lost it all.
Unsurprisingly, police because increasingly suspicious
as the inconsistencies persisted.
It didn't fix itself as they were promised.
In desperation, Ren and Stimpy, I mean, Ren and Ma
came up with an ingenious solution,
doubling down with heist number three.
I mean, it was sure to work this time, it had to.
For the third heist, they stole a further 18,000,000 yuan
$2.3 million U.S. dollars
and went and bought even more tickets.
Unlike before, they were now on a serious time crunch
and they didn't have the luxury of spreading out
their activity over many weeks.
They purchased all their tickets in just one single day.
And hurriedly scratched till their fingers bled.
If you're wondering how the insane amount of ticket purchases
were made without raising suspicion,
well, that's because at the time, while China was transitioning to electronic,
cash was still king.
Now, at the end of the grueling day,
this was their reality.
Out of a total of 51,000,000 yuan, $6.7 million U.S. dollars
they were only able to recoup
a total of 98,000 yuan, $12,700.
Yep, they were screwed, and they finally knew it.
On the plus side though, the city of Handan reported
record breaking lottery ticket sales.
Must have been some good marketing.
On April 16th, the bank finally caught on
to the legitimacy of the missing funds,
as the vault managers could stall no more.
The police immediately set out to arrest the duo
for what was soon confirmed to be the largest
bank heist in Chinese history,
but they had already fled the city.
They were however, able to arrest a different duo,
the supporting cast of the two security guards
who were none too pleased with the lack of forewarning
given by their associates.
Ren and Ma were all about saving themselves,
having days earlier bought fake IDs before disappearing.
This prompted an extensive nationwide manhunt
with China's public security ministry placing the
two men on their most wanted list.
A bounty was placed on their heads.
Ma fled north to the capital Beijing.
While Ren made his way down to the Jiangsu province.
Their faces were now plastered all over the news
which for Ma, being in a bustling city like Beijing
wasn't so great.
Unsurprisingly, two days later, he was caught and arrested.
Then there was one, the mastermind, Ren,
who by now had made his way southwest by taxi
to the coastal city of Lianyungang
As China's most wanted, traveling 650km all by taxi
was probably not the smartest decision,
which he eventually caught on to as he later
swapped out the cab for a black Honda
which he made sure to have a sunroof, because, priorities.
After purchasing the car from a dodgy car salesman,
he realized he needed to quickly find a place to lay low.
Using his fake ID, he rented a high-end apartment
near the waterfront from his new landlord,
which along with his sunroof car,
was seriously eating away at his reserves.
It seemed, along with math,
long-term planning wasn't his thing.
But at least for now, it was time to kick back,
till things died down.
(door kicked open)
Except it was already over, because the police
knew exactly where he was.
It turned out that looking disheveled and unshaven for days
and paying for everything from a bag full of cash
was suspicious behavior, news to him.
It wasn't one person who notified police, it was three.
The taxi driver, the landlord, and the dodgy car salesman.
Indeed, it seemed the dodgy car salesman had come across
far dodgier than himself.
Since all three assisted with the capture,
they ended up splitting the 200,000 yuan reward,
which for Ren I guess was a fitting end.
As just as it all started with 200,000,
it has now ended with 200,000.
With everyone captured, the manhunt was over.
The two security guards were charged with
misappropriating public funds.
And were sentenced to up to five years in prison.
Ren and Ma were charged with embezzlement
and in court the prosecution pushed for the harshest sentence
under the law.
Ren in particular repented and tried to offer up advice
on how the bank could prevent such theft
from happening in the future.
But unfortunately, it was all too late.
They were given the death penalty.
And a year later, they were executed.
As for the Agricultural Bank of China,
they were embarrassed.
They took action by firing five bank officials for negligence,
including the Vice President of the province branch
for essentially allowing three heists to take place
under their watch.
It was later revealed, the bank hadn't even taken
a cash inventory for years
and no one had ever checked the surveillance.
So here's the moral of the story.
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