A Shenzhen man said he regretted being able to speak English after a bag he was carrying, containing 30,000 yuan (US$4,054) in cash, was snatched by two expatriates Wednesday.

“If I could not speak English, I would not have fallen victim to them,” the man, identified as Ma, told Thursday’s Southern Metropolis Daily.

Ma, a media company employee, said he was walking on a road near the Huangpu Nga Court housing estate in Futian District at 2:40 p.m. Wednesday when a sedan approached him.

A man who looked like he was from Southeast Asia rolled down the car window and said hello to Ma, who noticed another foreigner sitting in the driver’s seat.

“I can speak English. So I stopped and asked him what I could do for him,” said Ma. “He said he was looking for a bank to convert foreign currency into yuan.”

As Ma tried to show them the way, the foreigner suddenly snatched his bag, which contained 30,000 yuan in cash, and the car sped off.

“Everything came out of the blue,” Ma said. “I was even knocked down to the ground.”

Hearing Ma’s cries for help, a patrolman on a motorcycle tried to pursue the suspects, but to no avail.

Ma said he never thought foreigners could be dangerous, which caused him to let his guard down.

Police said the miscreants could have been Chinese people impersonating foreigners.(By Li Jing)