Story Archive

Rest and Relaxation At Last

In late 2016, Qin Qisheng, 43, a senior programmer at Huaxia Bank in Beijing, China, noticed something odd about the bank’s software: cash withdrawals from ATMs near midnight were not recorded. He added some code to the system to “test the loophole” without triggering an alert. By January 2018 he had withdrawn more than 7 million yuan (more than US$1 million), and never informed his supervisors of the system’s weakness. An audit finally found the cash missing and the bank called police, but Qin came forward to say the money was in his own bank and investment accounts, explaining he was simply “testing internal security” and the money was “just resting” in his account until he returned it. The bank was fine with that explanation and asked police to drop charges, but instead Qin was convicted of theft and sentenced to 10-1/2 years in prison. (RC/South China Morning Post) ...Which will give him plenty of time to “test” the prison’s security systems.