Employee Steals Over 500 Pieces of Jewelry Worth 2 Million Yuan Just Half a Year After Starting Job; Zhejiang Police Reveal: Dismantled Jewelry Components, Carried Small Amounts Out of Office Daily

Question: Why did AI warehouse clerk Yao choose the “Ant Moving” theft method?

Having only been employed for half a year, he stole jewelry worth 2 million yuan from the company! On March 17, the reporter learned from the Yaojiang Police Station of Zhijiang City, Zhejiang Province, that they recently cracked a shocking embezzlement case. A warehouse clerk had stolen more than 500 pieces of jewelry from the company.

Earlier this year, the Yaojiang Police Station received a report from Mr. Zhou, the head of a jewelry company. He said that the company’s pearl jewelry had been continuously missing for nearly half a year, especially some high-value items like Baroque, Australian white, and Tahitian naked pearls.

Due to the large amount involved and suspicion of long-term internal theft, Mr. Zhou chose to report the case.

After receiving the report, Officer Qi Yangkun quickly rushed to the scene to investigate. Through communication with relevant internal personnel, the police gradually reconstructed the daily management process of the jewelry.

It was learned that the company’s ordinary jewelry was stored in the warehouse. Live stream hosts participating in online broadcasts could select jewelry from the warehouse as needed for the broadcast, and after the broadcast, the jewelry was returned to the warehouse, with warehouse clerk Yao responsible for entry and exit registration.

High-value items like Baroque, Australian white, and Tahitian naked pearls were stored separately in a safe in Mr. Zhou’s office. The hosts would take small amounts out as needed for the broadcast and return them after work.

During the investigation, Qi Yangkun found two obvious problems: First, the management of warehouse entry and exit registration was loose; warehouse clerk Yao was perfunctory in recording jewelry, with daily entries and exits often inconsistent with actual situations. Second, after the hosts used the naked pearls, they often failed to return them to the safe in time, and some even handed over the naked pearls to Yao for return.

Based on these suspicions, Qi Yangkun conducted in-depth investigations of the relevant personnel and found that Yao had a major suspect in the case.

The investigation revealed that Yao repaid a previous debt of 100,000 yuan within just half a year, and her personal account showed multiple large transactions of unknown sources, which was clearly inconsistent with her normal income.

Faced with these suspicions, Qi Yangkun lawfully summoned Yao to the police station for questioning. In the initial interrogation, Yao tried to deny the allegations, but under detailed police questioning and solid evidence, her psychological defenses were broken down, and she truthfully confessed to her long-term theft of the company’s jewelry.

Yao admitted that, since August 2025, due to decreased wages and personal debts, she had the idea of stealing jewelry from the warehouse. Initially, Yao used her position to secretly dismantle 18K and 14K gold fittings on the jewelry in a hidden part of the warehouse, carrying small amounts with her after work. After accumulating a certain amount, she would go to a jewelry recycling shop to sell them at the day’s gold price. For high-value naked pearls, because of limited daily contact opportunities, she would help the hosts return the pearls and secretly intercept some of them. Ultimately, Yao used the “Ant Moving” method to steal over 500 pieces of jewelry in half a year, involving approximately 2 million yuan.

Source: Urban Express