Worker to donate extra cash to charity

THE migrant worker who lost 17,600 yuan (US$2,822) when riding a scooter in the city on Sunday said he has stopped accepting donations from friendly and concerned citizens.

Qin Xiaoliang, a courier guy, said he so far has received a total of 14,500 yuan through donations.

The 29-year-old was carrying 17,600 yuan in his pocket when he met with an accident. He could only watch as passers-by took off with his money.

After a public appeal, the Anhui Province native had recovered 7,800 yuan by Monday.

With public donations, that amount now stood at 22,450 yuan.

He said he would donate the extra 4,850 yuan to charity after the Spring Festival.

"The nice people of the city really surprised me. If I accepted the entire donation the number would have reached tens of thousands," said Qin, who smiled for the first time yesterday.

"I don't want to accept any more donations as I have already recovered what I had lost."

Qin has bought a long-distance bus ticket to his hometown in Anhui for Friday and plans to come back after the Spring Festival with his family to thank the city for its help.

The extra 4,850 yuan in donations equals to Qin's monthly income from two jobs but he said he did not want to take it.

"I need to say thank you with my family and donate the extra 4,850 yuan," he said yesterday.

Qin was planning to deposit the savings of his father and brother, totaling 17,600 yuan, to a bank on Sunday afternoon before heading back to his hometown for the Spring Festival holiday.

But the cash spilled out of his pocket when he was riding his scooter at the intersection of Beidi and Jianhe roads.

As he tried to recover his money, many passers-by pocketed most of the strewn cash.

Only three people returned 700 yuan but others came forward later or donated money.

Text scam

The story was of course good news for scammers, who took advantage of the situation and sent fake text messages to people asking them to make donations into the bank account of Qin's wife.

The messages, traced to a number in southern China's Guangdong Province, claimed she was Qin's wife and requested people to make a bank transfer and bail her and her family out, Shanghai television news reported yesterday.

"I have never asked people to transfer money," Qin said.

"Moreover, I have divorced my wife so the message couldn't be true," he said.

Police are investigating.

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