Pests such as termites are a pain.
One woman in Malaysia spent a very expensive lesson to learn that.
Her stash of cash was literally eaten by termites, which resulted in severe losses for her.
Here is what happened.
Malaysian Woman Stored About S$8K in Shoebox at Home
This story is an unpleasant one.
Earlier this week, on Monday (24 July 2023), a Facebook user going by the moniker of Khairul Azhar took to the social media platform to make a short but sad post.
In the post, the Facebook user tells the story of his grandmother, who saved up to RM 30,000 (approximately S$8,000) in a shoebox.
The shoebox was kept at home.
The grandmother had intended to use the cash for a trip to a religious place of worship the following year.
Termites Ate Through the Woman’s Cash
Unfortunately, the termites had other plans for the grandmother’s money.
A termite infestation which struck the grandmother’s village home caused the pests to eat through the box full of cash.
What an expensive meal, and to feed termites, no less.
The Facebook user attached a picture of the eaten cash after the termites were done feasting.
Ribbed edges can be seen on a variety of notes, including RM 100 and RM 50 notes.
There did not appear to be any notes which remained intact. In fact, only ribbons of notes remained to indicate that the shoebox was originally full of notes.
Due to the cash destroyed by termites, the Facebook user wrote that his grandmother could no longer make the religious trip the following year.
The user also said it was a lesson for them not to keep their money at home.
Indeed, that’s some advice we will heed. On top of insane inflationary pressures and the decreasing valuing of cash, we now have to worry that some unwanted termites could chew through our precious cash.
While this incident was unfortunate, the grandmother might still be able to salvage some of the notes.
The Facebook user shared that some of the notes (approximately half) were sent to the Bank Negara Malaysia, presumably to exchange for fresh notes, which can be banked in.
The other half could not be saved and were presumably lost forever.
Hopefully, the half that was saved consisted mainly of RM 100 notes.
What do you think of this incident? Was it foolish for the grandmother to keep the notes at home, or was this just a tragic accident?
