A pensioner who didn’t trust his local bank to look after his life savings chose to bury the money in the ground – only for most of it to be eaten by worms. Poor Wu Chen, 67, stashed the cash in a carrier bag five years ago, feeling sure it would be safe. But when he recently came to make a withdrawal he found that insects had been feasting on his funds and there wasn’t a lot left.
Mr Chen didn’t tell anyone when he squirreled away the 35,000 RMB (£3,627) in a plastic bag, placing it in a hole in Deyang, in south-west China’s Sichuan Province. He said: “It was my pension fund payment and all of the savings I’ve had from working as a fisherman all my life.” Sadly the bag proved to be biodegradable and fell apart, allowing damp and what Mr Chen believes were worms and insects to get inside and eat the money.
He told local media he was horrified when he dug up the dosh to find that most of it was rotten. Ironically his local bank – which he didn’t trust to hold his savings in the first place – has come to the rescue, swapping the notes that are in good enough condition for fresh ones. In total, the bank was able to piece together and exchange around 20,000 RMB (£2,074), although the rest was beyond help.
