Photo: VCG

A man in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison after transferring some 150,000 yuan ($23,500) from his ex-girlfriend's phone using facial recognition by pulling up her eyelids while she was sleeping.

The man, surnamed Huang, who was actually a compulsive gambler burdened by debt at that time, called his ex-girlfriend surnamed Dong in December last year. Huang told her he wanted to meet to discuss how he could pay back more than 60,000 yuan ($9,400) he borrowed from Dong when they were together. 

That afternoon, the man volunteered to take care of Dong after learning that she was ill, cooking for her and preparing her medicine.

What happened next is that Dong fell asleep after taking the medicine. Then, Huang unlocked the woman's phone with her fingerprint and pulled up her eyelids to transfer the money using facial recognition. 

Afterward, Dong surprisingly saw the money transfer on her phone when she woke up and reported it to the police immediately. Police later discovered how the money had been transferred by Huang.

Huang was recently sentenced to three years and six months in prison and fined 20,000 yuan ($3,140).