Woman pours cola into ATM after falling for bizarre phone scam

A Chinese woman has been arrested for vandalism, after being persuaded by telecom fraudsters to pour cola into two ATM machines in a bid to retrieve money that had been stolen from her.

Zhang Ling (pseudonym), 33, played both victim and suspect in the absurd case in southwest China’s Chongqing municipality, according to a report by Chongqing Evening News.

The duped woman received a phone call from the scammer in November, claiming she had a 1,300 yuan phone bill. She was persuaded to call a designated "police station" number, and transferred 5,300 yuan (768 US dollars) to a bank account.

As she grew suspicious, the woman called the fraudster up the next day, asking for her money back. The swindler told her to dump cola into an ATM. With the ATM’s invoice, the fraudster said a police officer could help her retrieve her money.

Amazingly, Zhang followed the instructions, buying a cola and emptying it into the machine. Nothing happened, and the flustered woman rang up the cheater again, who instructed her to pour a second bottle of cola into the ATM. After getting a "receipt," the gullible Zhang then went to the police.

After being informed that she had been deceived, Zhang eventually realized that she had been fooled by the swindlers.

Beyond losing her money, the woman caused damage to two ATM machines worth nearly 60,000 yuan (8,688 US dollars).