Video: Bank Teller Laughs at Knife-Wielding Robber in China

A man carrying a cleaver attempted to rob a bank in Shanghai, but was not taken seriously by the staff.
Video: Bank Teller Laughs at Knife-Wielding Robber in China
Screenshot of security footage showing a man with a cleaver trying to rob a bank in Shanghai, while talking on his cellphone. (Screenshot/YouTube)
2/25/2014
Updated:
7/18/2015

A man carrying a cleaver attempted to rob a bank in Shanghai last Thursday, but was not taken seriously by the staff.

Security footage from the Construction Bank in Hongkou District shows the young man talking on a cellphone and casually waving the knife around.

The woman being served at the counter quickly walked away, and the man then tried to hold up the bank teller, while still talking on his phone.

However, the teller was behind a thick glass wall, and she just laughed, joking about the situation with her colleagues.

The man did not resist when he was disarmed and apprehended by security guards. He was taken away by police, and is undergoing psychiatric evaluation.

Some netizens speculated that the man was trying to be arrested, because he had first attempted to set off the fire alarm, but was stopped by a security guard.

An Internet user commented on Weibo: “I think he wanted free medical care and a free pension! Cunning”

Another said: “Why call it robbing a bank? Call it the proletariat’s revolution. The proletariats want to strike the landlords and get their land. Who dares to be a counter-revolutionary? Suppress them!!!”

Research by Sophia Fang.