A 9-year-old boy has emptied his parents’ piggy bank, spending almost $4,000 on candy in the Ukrainian city of Konotop, the Ukrainian edition of Russia’s Komsomolskaya Pravda daily said Wednesday.
A total of $3,300 and 500 euro (about $600) — the family’s entire savings — went missing from the stash, which was kept hidden under a sofa.
After a brief family row, the son admitted stealing the money, saying he wanted to buy some sweets.
During his autumn vacation, the boy took various sums of money from the stash and converted it into Ukrainian hryvnas with the help of an adult acquaintance. The man, who has been diagnosed with a mental disorder, always received the biggest note for his services.
As the boy was unable to eat all the candy he bought, he shared it with friends.
To get an idea of how much $4,000 is for a Ukranian family, the gross national income per capita in Ukraine is $3,120 a year compared to $48,450 in the U.S., according to the World Bank. In other words, losing that $4,000 probably felt like what an American family would feel in losing $53,600.