Vietnamese woman laughs off thief’s gold snatching as it turns out to be fake

A woman in Vietnam unexpectedly laughed off a gold snatching incident that went viral, baffling the thief while sweeping rubbish outside her house. The unshaken victim amused onlookers with her reaction when the stolen necklace, worth about 36,800 baht (US$1,060), was revealed to be fake.

A video capturing the unusual encounter made its rounds on international websites, showing the woman casually sweeping rubbish on the street in front of her home when a motorbike-riding thief suddenly approached. He swiftly grabbed her gold necklace and made his escape. Surprisingly, instead of being shocked or crying for help, she laughed loudly and shouted something to the fleeing thief. It was later learned that she reported the incident to the local police and admitted that her necklace, which cost around 36,800 baht, was fake. Whilst her exclamation of “fake gold” might have normally caused most thieves to reconsider and return the stolen item, this particular thief decided to keep it.

Authorities have since stated that the incident occurred on the afternoon of June 16. Local citizens alerted the police to the bizarre gold-snatching event taking place on the street. Authorities are now using CCTV footage as evidence in their ongoing search for the suspect.

Vietnam certainly isn’t the only Southeast Asian country where thieves snatch gold necklaces.

The issue seems to be a monthly occurrence in Pattaya, Thailand. This week on Pattaya Beach, an unfortunate incident unfolded as a Turkish tourist encountered a pickpocket while strolling alone. Despite being vigilant about such crimes, he lost a 25,000 baht (US$723) gold necklace to the skilled hands of the alleged transgender thief. To read more click HERE.

In related news, police arrested six Chinese men for selling fake gold to rich Thai people resulting in a profit of more than 10 million baht. The suspects were reported to be former members of a scam call centre gang based in Indonesia. The gang confessed that their criminal act was inspired by a television series about scammers. To read more click HERE.