A Chinese man has been jailed for stealing $23,500 from his ex-girlfriend’s bank account by pulling up her eyelids while she was sleeping to activate her phone’s facial recognition feature.
The 28-year-old man, only identified by his surname Huang, was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in Nanning in southern China over the elaborate theft, the Global Times reported.
Huang was convicted of using his ex-girlfriend’s fingerprints to unlock her phone while she slept in her apartment in December last year.
He then pulled up her eyelids to activate facial recognition so he could access her online banking app, according to authorities.
Huang transferred the equivalent of $23,500 out of his ex-girlfriend’s cash and line-of-credit accounts.
The ex-girlfriend went to police as soon as she noticed the missing money.
Police later determined it had been transferred by Huang.
His ex-girlfriend had told authorities Huang had asked if he could meet her so they could discuss how would pay back $9,400 that he borrowed from her when they were dating.
When he arrived, the ex-girlfriend said Huang offered to cook and get her medicine because she was sick.
The victim said she fell asleep after taking the medicine.
In addition to prison time, Huang was fined about $3,000.