A woman has been arrested in Qingpu district for secretly stealing 17,000 yuan ($2,737) from a co-worker's online account, most of which she spent on a pet bulldog, local police said Friday.

The suspect, surnamed Xi, turned herself in to police on April 1 after her colleague, surnamed Liu, reported several suspicious account transactions to police, according to a press release from the Qingpu District Public Security Bureau. Xi admitted that she had been stealing money from the account since October.

Xi and Liu worked together at a school in Qingpu district. Liu regularly shopped online while at work.

One day last October, Xi caught a glimpse of Liu typing in the username and password to her online account.

Noting the information, Xi later accessed Liu's account online and spent 2,000 yuan on clothing, police said. To prevent Liu from noticing the purchases, Xi first turned off an account function that sends a text message to the user whenever money is deducted from the account. Afterword, Xi deleted the records of the transactions to cover her trail.

When Liu didn't notice the transactions, Xi grew bolder. With the help of a friend surnamed Xu, she hatched a plan to steal cash from Liu's account. Xu had recently opened an online store and needed customers to improve her business's online rating. Xi agreed to spend Liu's money at the store, which Xu would immediately transfer to Xi's bank account. No goods were exchanged.

Xi made more than 10 purchases at Xu's store, effectively withdrawing more than 14,000 yuan from Liu's account. Liu didn't discover the mysterious payments until January. When she eventually reported the issue to police, they traced the purchases to Xi.

Xi spent most of the money on a 12,000-yuan bulldog.

Police warned residents against making online purchases from public computers. They also advised online shoppers to regularly change the passwords to their online accounts.

Global Times