Homeless trash collector in China discovers $63,000 in pension account

A 71-year-old man from China, who has survived by collecting waste for over two decades, unexpectedly discovered he had accumulated the equivalent of $63,000 in his bank account, South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports. The man’s life changed in the 2000s when he lost his job. Left without means of survival, he moved into an abandoned building in the city of Chengde and began working as a street waste collector. The secret of his 'wealth' was revealed by local volunteers in 2024, who helped the elderly man with document processing. Checking his records, social workers found that the man had officially reached retirement age back in 2015. For years, the state had been regularly transferring pension payments, which the pensioner was unaware of, until a substantial amount had accumulated.