Robbery suspect dubbed 'world's kindest crook' for actions after he saw victim's bank balance

CHINA -- It's not clear if this story should be filed under "weird crimes" or "uplifting news."

The surveillance cameras tell the tale of the person now being dubbed "the world's kindest crook," with the footage coming out of Heyuan in China's Guangdong province.

That's where the Straits Times reports a woman ID'd only by the last name Li made a routine stop at a local ATM in mid-February, where she took out $375. The closed-circuit TV video showed the terrifying thing that happened next. A man came up behind her (he was later said to have been carrying a knife) and made her give him what she'd just withdrawn.

But it was when he got greedy that he also had a moment of compassion. After asking to check out her ATM receipt to see how much money she had left in her account, he noticed the balance was zero. That's when, with a grin, he gave the victim her money back and strolled away.

The Good News Network reported the alleged robber-wanna-be, ID'd only as Deng, was eventually tracked down by police. He was still in custody as of Sunday, March 17, noted TVS1, via the Times.

Social media denizens, meanwhile, are still giving him props for being halfway decent about giving the money back.

(Read more weird crimes stories.)