Today in History - April 16: The bank robbery lottery scheme that worked until it didn't
Branch managers at a Chinese bank noticed an enormous sum of money missing on April 16, 2007.
Shortly afterwards, the vault managers of the Handan branch of the Agricultural Bank of China vanished.
The two men, Ren Xiaofeng and Ma Xiangjing, had hatched upon a seemingly flawless crime a year earlier.
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The pair robbed the Agricultural Bank of China. Adobe Stock
With the co-operation of two security guards, Ren stole 200,000 yuan ($62,000 in today's money) from the bank.
He then used the stolen money to buy an enormous sum of lottery tickets.
Presuming he won, he would then return the cash to the bank in the hope nobody had noticed.
Against the odds, he did win enough to cover the stolen money, and he returned 200,000 yuan to the vault with the bank none the wiser.
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The two robbers were executed for their crime. Supplied
Then Ren got greedy.
Enlisting the help of another manager Ma Xiangjing, the pair set out on the same scheme, but bigger.
They stole the equivalent of $10 million from the bank vault.
But they weren't so lucky the next time.
Desperate to recover their losses, they stole another $5 million from the bank, spending nearly all of it on lottery tickets.
The winnings on their third attempt was just $30,000 — nowhere near what they had stolen.
The pair were killed by firing squad for robbing the bank. Supplied
Their ticket purchases made for a record-breaking week for the lottery in Hebei province.
It was two days after the third attempt that branch managers noticed the missing cash and contacted police.
Ren and Ma tried to flee using fake IDs, but were caught two days later after being placed on China's most wanted list.
They were found guilty of embezzlement and executed by firing squad less than a year later.
The vast majority of the cash was never recovered.
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