A Hong Kong traveler whose debit card was stolen during a trip to Vietnam escaped any financial loss after thieves failed to spend a single cent, sparking widespread online amusement about the so-called “poverty anti-theft hack.”
A netizen recently shared his “miserable” experience on Threads, with captions writing, “I was foolish to have my debit card stolen in Vietnam.”
However, his bank screenshots showed that while he worried about the loss of his card, the thieves were presumably equally frustrated.
The bank records revealed that the thief first attempted to make a purchase of 13,250,000 Vietnamese dong (around HK$3,931) at a mobile phone shop and then tried to spend HK$4,051.47 at another Vietnamese hotel. Both transactions were declined by the bank.
Some netizens humorously speculated about the thieves’ thoughts: “They probably wondered if he had blocked the card already.” The truth was simpler—the poster’s account balance was insufficient to cover the transactions, totaling a mere 13 cents.
Since a debit card is directly linked to the cardholder’s bank account, funds are deducted immediately upon making a purchase, limiting spending to the available balance.
The poster jokingly summed up the situation: the thief was furious to discover only 13 cents on the card, while he himself was upset that his savings had dwindled to exactly that amount.
His unexpected “poverty” served as an anti-theft measure, leading netizens to comment, “Is this good luck or bad luck?” To which the poster could only reply helplessly, “I’ve been asking myself that too.”
A similar story emerged from another netizen who had his wallet and debit card stolen in Thailand. The thief tried multiple transactions totalling around HK$5,000, but found only one dollar left in the account.
The incidents quickly gave rise to the tongue-in-cheek term “poverty anti-theft method,” with users joking, “Get poor enough, and nothing bad will happen,” and “A thief’s worst enemy isn’t the police—it’s a broke person.”
Many pointed out the unexpected safety benefit: travelling with a debit card linked to a near-empty account can serve as an unconventional deterrent against pickpockets and card thieves.
