Man pretends to pray as part of NT$10,000 donation box heist

Man pretends to pray as part of NT$10,000 donation box heist

2026-09-24

Apparently not even donation boxes are safe from petty crime, even at a religious site. A Four-Faced Buddha shrine in Kaohsiung’s Fongshan District was recently targeted by a thief, who pretended to be a worshipper. The man went into the shrine, lit incense and pretended to pray while scouting the site. Then, he pried the box open and made off with more than NT$10,000 in donations. Let’s hear more.

Mr. Lee
Temple representative
We got a call saying that the donation box at the Four-Faced Buddha shrine had been pried open. We went over, and it was all broken. He lit some incense and took a walk around. But it looked like he wasn’t just praying. He had found his target. Then he went over and forced it open.

Member of public
Considering karmic consequences
Karma will come back to him. If he committed the act for a good reason, Buddha will forgive him. But if his intent was destruction, it’s won’t be good.

Chuang Hsueh-liang
Police officer
A donation box at a Four-Faced Buddha shrine was pried open, and about NT$10,000 in cash donations was stolen. After receiving the report, we began reviewing security camera footage and identified a 48-year-old man as a prime suspect.

Police reviewed surveillance footage and discovered that the crime was premeditated. The suspect rode his scooter past the temple and parked it at a nearby park, before carrying out the heist. He made sure to pocket the cash at just the right spot, where he couldn’t be seen by surveillance cameras. The man, surnamed Su, later confessed to the crime at the police station, and he is now facing legal and perhaps also karmic consequences.

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