A man in Shanghai’s Putuo District has fallen victim to a shocking “bedroom theft” case after discovering that more than 270,000 yuan (about HK$290,000) had mysteriously disappeared from his bank account—only to learn that the culprit was his live-in girlfriend.
According to Shanghai police, the victim, identified as Mr Ou, filed a report on April 24 after noticing irregular withdrawals from his account. Investigators later found that the money had been transferred in 21 separate transactions between January 4 and April 24, mostly occurring during late-night hours.
Police said the case took a dramatic turn when evidence pointed to Mr Ou’s cohabiting girlfriend, surnamed Shao, as the main suspect. She was taken in for questioning and initially denied any wrongdoing.
However, she later confessed after police confronted her with transaction records and chat evidence linking her to the transfers.
Shao admitted she had been facing financial difficulties and took advantage of living with her boyfriend. She allegedly used his phone while he was asleep, unlocking it via facial recognition and bypassing security checks to transfer funds from his account.
Over the course of nearly four months, she reportedly carried out 21 unauthorised transfers, draining the full 270,000 yuan. Authorities said the stolen money was used entirely for personal spending and lifestyle expenses.
Shao has since been criminally detained on suspicion of theft, and the case remains under further investigation.
The incident has sparked widespread debate online over the security of facial recognition systems in smartphones. Many netizens questioned whether “liveness detection” features are reliable, with some claiming that biometric systems may have serious loopholes.
Others urged users to strengthen account security by increasing payment verification requirements or reverting to traditional password protection, warning that even trusted relationships may not prevent digital financial theft.
