A man in Saitama prefecture is being arrested for stealing approximately 47 million yen (450,000 USD) from elderly women by offering to take their bags out of kindness and fleeing with their purses.

A homeless man, Suguru Washio, 25, admitted to the allegations against him.

“Elderly women don’t counterattack, and it was easy to run away from them,” Washio told police.

In some cases, Washio kindly asked elderly women, “Shall I take your bag?” and after the women handed them over, he stole their purses and ran off, police said.

Some victims did not even report their losses to police because they thought, “A man of such good nature would not do such a thing.”

Source: Mainichi JP

Its amazing he actually managed to commit 235 similar cases and his loot actually amounted to approximately 450,000 USD.

He probably misunderstood the meaning that kindness should be rewarded.