A woman in China chewed through an anti-theft cable in a store to steal an iPhone 14 Plus worth 7,000 yuan (S$1,323).
She was arrested shortly after leaving the premises.
The bizarre story trended on Chinese social media due to how absurd the premise sounded, and demonstrated the lengths some go to just to acquire material possessions.
What happened
The woman, surnamed Qiu, from Fujian province in southeastern China, was seen on surveillance footage from the shop placing her right hand on a phone after stopping in front of a display.
Watch the unbelievable moment a woman attempts to BITE through an anti-theft cable in a bizarre bid to steal an iPhone 14 Plus at a store in Fujian, southeastern #China pic.twitter.com/Kd1pdOGhKD
— Hans Solo (@thandojo) September 6, 2023
She examined the device for a few seconds and then bit on the security cable several times.
After chewing all the way through, she put the phone in her bag and left.
Alarm sounded
The shop manager said an alarm sounded but staff did not notice anything unusual initially.
This was partly due to the woman having acted normally in the presence of others by pretending to scroll through the phone’s screen.
Shop staff eventually noticed the chewed cable and missing phone and called the police.
Why she stole iPhone
According to Sina News, Qiu told the police that she planned to buy a new phone after losing hers.
But she apparently balked at the price of the phone and decided to steal the device.
She was arrested by police outside her home 30 minutes after leaving the shop.
She has been detained pending further investigation.
Top photos via