A Small Fortune Of Termite-Damaged Currency Was Replaced By A Bank After It Was Found In A Garbage Can

It is not uncommon for senior citizens to store their money away within their own secret stashes. It seems odd to younger people that the elderly would forgo the service and security that a person gets by dealing with a bank. However, our grandparents lived during a time when the the Federal Government did not insure the money that people keep within banks. For example, during the great depression, millions of people lost their life-savings after the economy crashed. Luckily, most Americans today believe that keeping their money in banks is the safest way to store their financial earnings. However, this is not necessarily the attitude among people living in China, especially elderly Chinese citizens. Several blog articles have been written before about Chinese people who lose their stored money to ravenous termites that invade their stash. However, the most recent case of money-hungry termites in China involves another elderly woman who found her currency eaten before she disappointedly discarded the money in a garbage can as though they were worthless paper scraps. Amazingly, and against all odds, termites could not keep this woman’s small fortune from her for long, as every cent was eventually returned to her in perfect condition.

An eighty three year old woman, Chaluay Saetiaw, opened her wooden cash box one day only to find that termites had eaten her Bt 117,000 worth of bank notes. That is a lot of money to lose on account of hungry insects.

Initially, the woman exchanged only some of the damaged bank notes for new ones at a local financial center. However, she threw Bt 60,000 worth of bank notes in a public trash receptacle, as she believed that they had become too damaged to be replaced. As it turned out, this was not the case, as the woman would soon learn.

Shortly after throwing away thousands, a passerby spotted the money in the garbage can before turning it in to the police. Somehow, the police tracked down Chaluay and returned her money. The police told her that the money could be exchanged for new currency. Skeptical, Chaluay visited a bank and attempted an exchange, and they said yes. Luckily, termites did not destroy her life-savings after all.

Will you avoid hiding your money now after learning that termites have no issues with eating currency?