Sold His Girlfriend's Gold Bracelet for 650,000 Won... Caught Swapping It with a Silver One

A man in China was arrested by police after secretly selling his girlfriend's gold bracelet for cash and replacing it with a similar-looking silver bracelet.

According to recent reports by Chinese media outlets such as Sina Finance, a man in his 20s, identified as A, was arrested by police in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, on suspicion of stealing his girlfriend B’s gold bracelet.

Reports state that A secretly took his girlfriend's gold bracelet, which weighed about 36 grams, and sold it at a pawn shop for 30,000 yuan (approximately 650,000 won) in cash. He then purchased a silver bracelet with a similar appearance and placed it back as if it were the original.

Later, when B tried to wear the bracelet again, she noticed that its color and weight were subtly different from before. Feeling suspicious, she had the bracelet appraised at a pawn shop and, upon confirming that it was silver rather than gold, reported the incident to the police. Investigators tracked down transaction records at local pawn shops and identified A as the suspect.

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Subsequently, A turned himself in at the police station. During questioning, he reportedly stated, "I was in urgent need of money due to living expenses and debts at the time," and "after stealing the bracelet, I was so anxious that I couldn't even sleep properly." Local police have booked A on theft charges and are continuing to investigate the details of the incident.

After the case became public, there was a wave of criticism on Chinese social networking services (SNS), with comments such as, "How could something like this happen between lovers?" and "A crime that betrays trust."

With international gold prices reaching record highs day after day, similar gold theft cases continue to occur. Last month in China, a man was sentenced to prison for stealing a gold necklace and bracelet from a friend who had collapsed in a traffic accident while crossing the street.

The local court stated, "Stealing property from a victim who is unconscious and in a life-threatening condition is unacceptable by social standards," sentencing the perpetrator to eight months in prison and a fine of 10,000 yuan (approximately 210,000 won).

Meanwhile, China is known as one of the world's leading gold-loving nations, with private gold holdings reaching about 31,000 tons-the second largest globally. Recently, as gold demand has surged beyond jewelry consumption to investment, roughly 112 billion yuan (about 23 trillion won) flowed into Chinese gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) last year alone.

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