A young woman who made away with 16 cellphones over the course of a month earlier this year has been sentenced to one year in jail, reports Beijing Youth Daily.

Zhong Ya, a 19-year-old native of Chongqing, began to target cab drivers after the money she made working several different jobs in Beijing was still not enough for her to live on comfortably.

Her trick was simple. She would hail a taxi and then ask the driver to stop at an alleyway in Huairou County.

The cabbie waited while Zhong got out and pretended to look for someone in vain, then returned to the car asking to borrow the driver's cellphone to call the invisible party. She would then disappear down the alley while talking on the phone.

From March 1 to April 1, she walked away with 16 cellphones worth a combined total of 13,000 yuan (US$1,600), which she sold for much less.

She was caught when several of her victims decided to lay in wait for her near the alley for several days until she turned up trying the same scam again. She was turned over to police on April 2.

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