Chinese scooter thief taunts police online, ‘come catch me’ ... They did

A man who stole an electric scooter in southern China and posted footage on a video-streaming app taunting the police to come catch him was behind bars about a week later, according to a newspaper report.

The man, 24, posted the clip on the website Douyin after stealing a scooter in Guiyang in Guizhou province, the Guiyang Evening News reported.

The thief, whose full name was not given, took the bike on June 1 and later posted the film, according to the article.

He is seen in the 15-second clip shouting “come catch me” and laughing.

Viewers alerted the police on June 5 and they immediately launched an investigation, the report said.

The man was caught two days later at his home. He was found to be unemployed and have committed similar offences in the past. The bike was sold before he was caught.

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The news website PearVideo reported the thief was caught partly because he was caught on surveillance footage at the scene of the theft.

“[It all started when] someone reported to us about the video he published on Douyin,” a policeman told PearVideo. “He thought we couldn’t catch him. He sold the scooter and we found it.”

Douyin, called Tik Tok outside China, has about 154 million monthly active users and was the most downloaded non-game app in the Apple app store globally in the first quarter of this year.

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