A teen desperate for some free Internet access was spotted standing on a busy stretch of railroad tracks in Beijing so he could steal a nearby Wi-Fi signal, media reported Saturday.

A railway patrolman caught the 16-year-old playing with his cellphone while standing on Beijing-Guangzhou line about three kilometers from the Fengtai West Train Station on June 9.

The officer said he immediately escorted the boy from the area.

The teen, surnamed Gao, told the officer he climbed over barriers surrounding the tracks in order to get a stronger Wi-Fi signal coming from a nearby house.

Gao was taken back to a local police station, where officers let him off with a warning.

Police called Gao's father to pick up the teen and urged him to educate his son on railway safety. The family had recently arrived in the area from Sichuan Province, said the report.

Beijing Times