Rich, Bored Moms Start Shoplifting Ring, Because Apparently Soul Cycle is Too Sweaty and Not Illegal Enough

(Via Giphy)

It’s tough to find mom friends. Are they at the Y? I’ve heard they’re at the Y. But with my luck they’d all be into something physical and outdoorsy, like hiking. Or something exciting and challenging, like running a competitive shoplifting league.

According to Shanghaiist, six rich women in Yingcheng City in China were recently arrested when police discovered they’d been holding shoplifting competitions, just for the thrill of it.

In one episode of 30 Rock, Liz Lemon gets suspended from work and has to stay home, and she winds up hanging out with some rich ladies in her neighborhood who are the “ladies who lunch” type. At first she likes the mimosas and mani-pedis and not having to think about work, but then the ladies start beating the ever-living shit out of each other, because they are so bored all day that they started Rich Lady Fight Club.

That was a joke, but this is real. These women reportedly used to hang out and play mahjong together, but when their mahjong parlor closed, they decided to indulge their need for excitement and competition by starting a competitive shoplifting ring to see which of these extremely rich ladies could shoplift the most and best stuff from stores.

Man, Rich Lady Fight Club would actually have been better. At least that doesn’t hurt anybody but the participants.

The women involved were reportedly very, very rich, and they could have bought all the makeup they wanted. But they apparently just decided that it was more fun to get together and plan shoplifting raids on makeup stores. They’d plan the raids in advance and go in groups, and they’d take turns stealing and distracting the staff.  Then they’d see who had managed to steal the most and best stuff. Altogether, they reportedly managed to steal more than $3,000 worth of makeup between them.

In the end, hubris got the best of them, because they got cocky and hit the same two cosmetics shops three times in two months, and the staff had security tapes and had gotten wise to their tricks.

Five of the grown-up Bling Ring members were taken into police custody. The sixth was just a 15-year-old girl, and she was sent home for her parents to deal with.