Doomsday rumors causes man to squander savings

A 43-year-old man in Chongqing Municipality has been duped by the 2012 doomsday rumor into squandering all his hard-earned savings, which total over 110,000 yuan ($17,424)。

In early July 2009, the man, Wang Ming, heard from colleagues at a construction site where he was working that in 2012, the earth would collide with the moon and all humanity would be wiped out。

At first, Wang laughed off the rumor and didn't take it seriously, but after witnessing a solar eclipse later that month, his mindset began to change。

"I started to reevaluate all my priorities," Wang said.

The carpenter, who started work without graduating from high school, decided that in order to "live life to the fullest," as he put it, he'd quit his job, buy a laptop and spend all day chatting online and playing games。

Unsurprisingly, his endeavor quickly caused him to squander all his savings, and last November, his girlfriend, Yu Shuzhen, grew exasperated and left home with their daughter.

Wang then called the police, reporting that the daughter had been birthed by a different woman and that Yu had kidnapped her。

For his misdeeds, Wang received 10 days in jail and was released on January 3 - having lived to witness the dawn of the supposed doomsday year。

"That rumor has ruined my life," Wang said. "I hope my girlfriend and daughter read this and come back to me."