The man who spent the entire amount of 4,500 USD was mistakenly transferred without a return date

Due to the unfortunate mistake of transferring money to someone else’s account, a fruit trader in China risks losing 30,000 yuan ($4,481). This is the amount of money that this person has worked very hard to earn while his business is seriously affected by the Covid-19 epidemic.

The incident happened last week when a fruit trader with the surname Huang living in Chongqing city in Sichuan province, China transferred 30,000 yuan to the supplier.

Mr. Huang is at risk of losing $4,500 because of a wrong transfer. (Photo: Sina)

Mr. Huang moved to Chongqing city only six months ago to start wholesale fruit business, after his previous business went downhill.

“That morning, my brother called and told me to transfer money to import more goods. I transferred the money after hanging up. But then I realized I had passed it on to someone else.”Mr. Huang said.

“Due to the impact of the epidemic, selling fruit this year is not easy. In good times, I make a few hundred yuan per order, but sometimes I lose more than 1,000 yuan ($150) per order.”Mr. Huang said in an interview on a local TV channel.

According to Mr. Huang, the person he mistakenly transferred the money to was an old customer with the surname Zheng. Mr. Huang met this person once, and then made friends on WeChat.

When he discovered that he had transferred the wrong amount, Mr. Huang tried to find ways to contact Zheng by phone and WeChat but failed, because the male customer blocked the number of the fruit trader.

“I tried calling him using someone else’s number, but he turned off the phone after the first attempt.”Mr. Huang said.

But a few days later, Zheng took the initiative to contact again. But Zheng said he had already spent all his money and it would take a long time to return the money to Mr. Huang.

Mr. Huang’s wife suggested that her husband and Zheng go to the police station together and sign a pledge to return the money in the presence of a police officer. But Mr. Zheng refused.

Under Chinese law, Mr. Huang can file a lawsuit to ask Zheng to return the improperly received money.

Mr. Huang also sought help from the local police, but the authorities said they could not force Zheng to return the money and advised the fruit trader to file a lawsuit.