Chinese people desperate to get rich by any means necessary are putting their faith in bags of “bank soil” sold online as wealth-bringing talismans.

Bank robberies usually involve cold harsh cash or gold ingots, but several Chinese banks have recently become the target of an unusual type of theft, that of soil from potted plants or from around the buildings housing them. Several online shops in the Asian country are selling small bags of ‘bank’ soil as get-rich-quick talismans that can cost as much as 888 yuan ($120), and demand for the unusual products is steadily increasing. Some sellers boast a “999.999 percent success rate in generating wealth,” while others record the harvesting process to guarantee the authenticity of their bank soil.

Photo: Unsplash

One website claimed that the four types of bank soil it sold were collected from five major banks, Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, China Construction Bank, and Bank of Communications, and was believed to have the power to increase one’s wealth.

“This soil is manually collected from the five major banks and is believed to enhance wealth and dissolve bad energy, though we cannot scientifically prove this,” a sales representative told the South China Morning Post. “Bank soil is collected at night from the green belts in front of these banks, not just one specific financial outlet.”

The trend has been ridiculed on Chinese social media, but the simple fact that so many sites are selling bank soil is proof that there is a big enough market for it. One anonymous buyer told Red Star News that they are a business owner and hoped the talisman would make it more profitable, adding that they have several friends who had bought some.

Clips of people digging up dirt from green spaces outside various banks and then packing them in small bags have been circulating online for months, but they apparently risk nothing more than being accused of damaging public property.