A Malaysian woman recently shared her distressing experience on Xiao Hong Shu after discovering that her ang pow money—amounting to an estimated RM4,000—had vanished following a bus trip from Kuala Lumpur to Johor.
Writing under the username 桃子乌龙茶, she recounted how the incident took place on the seventh day of Chinese New Year. She had boarded a long-distance bus from Terminal Bersepadu Selatan (TBS) to Larkin Sentral on 4th February. Everything seemed fine until she reached home and opened her suitcase.
Photo via Xiaohongshu (桃子乌龙茶)
As she unzipped her luggage, she immediately noticed something was amiss, “The zipper pull tab came off too easily, even though my suitcase was brand new. That’s when I started checking if anything was missing,” she wrote.
At first glance, everything appeared to be in order. Her clothes remained untouched, and the ang pow packets inside the suitcase’s inner layer were still neatly sealed.
“I thought I was just overthinking,” she admitted. However, when she opened the ang pows one by one, she was met with a devastating shock—they were all empty.
The missing money included ang pows gifted by her parents and relatives, as well as year-end bonuses from her employer in Singapore dollars. A rough calculation suggested that the total loss exceeded RM4,000.
Upon closer inspection, she realised that the suitcase’s zipper slider had been pried open to create a gap. This allowed someone to bypass the combination lock and access the suitcase without leaving visible damage.
Photo via Xiaohongshu (桃子乌龙茶)
The precision of the theft led her to suspect a repeat offender, possibly one of the bus drivers: “I find it suspicious that the drivers were the only ones with access to the luggage compartment. There were two of them, and one was especially eager to help me place my suitcase inside,” she noted.
The bus made two stops along the journey—one at a petrol station shortly after departure, despite no passengers getting on or off, and another at a rest area for about 20 minutes. She couldn’t say for sure when the theft occurred but found these stops questionable.
What puzzled her most was how the culprit had taken the time to carefully open each ang pow, remove the cash, and reseal them, rather than just taking the packets outright.
She later lodged a police report but was left feeling disheartened by the response, “I even brought my suitcase to the station that night, but the police didn’t seem very interested. Maybe they thought the amount was too small to investigate. They just told me there was no evidence to make an arrest and asked what I expected them to do,” she shared.
Photo via Xiaohongshu (桃子乌龙茶)
Reflecting on the experience, she warned others to be more cautious when travelling, “This is a hard lesson learned. From now on, I will always keep my money and valuables with me,” she said.
When travelling, always carry your valuables in a bag that stays with you at all times. Avoid placing cash, important documents, or expensive items in checked-in luggage or compartments that are out of sight. For extra security, use anti-theft bags, luggage with tamper-proof zippers, and always double-check your belongings before and after each journey.
