The man, known only as "Sunwear," wrote on the Weibo social media platform on October 16 that he withdrew about five million renminbi (equivalent to some R12 million) in banknotes from the Bank of Shanghai after receiving the "worst customer service." He wrote that the security guards had a "terrible attitude." Sunwear said that he took out the maximum he could withdraw in one day, adding that he plans to take out the rest of his "tens of millions" to transfer to other banks. It is not clear whether he has returned to withdraw the rest of his money.

He also wrote that he asked the bank to count his cash by hand "in case it fell short." It took a couple of bank tellers over two hours to count his money, he said. The bank says the massive withdrawal resulted from a disagreement between the customer and a security guard over Covid-19 protocols. According to a statement by the Bank of Shanghai, shared by the Chinese media outlet The Paper, Sunwear wasn't wearing a mask when he approached the branch. A security guard then ordered him to put one on, the statement said.

In a later Weibo post, Sunwear said that he had forgotten to bring his mask, and asked for a spare or a store where he could purchase one. He insisted he didn't refuse to wear a mask and complied with Covid-19 rules. Images of Sunwear with huge wads of cash, and suitcases full of his savings, have gone viral on social media. Since sharing images of his hefty withdrawals, LadBible reported that Sunwear had grown his online following to around 1.8 million people.