In a video taken at Hangzhou East station widely circulated on Chinese social media, the announcement over the public address system can be heard:
"The old woman [asking for money at the station] is from a well-off family, don't fall for her story."
Her son has since confirmed that the woman is not destitute, according to a Qianjiang Evening News report on Sunday.
He told the newspaper that his 79-year-old mother holds accounts with several banks near her home in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.
He said the family owns a factory and a five-storey house which they live in, and receives annual rent of 50,000 yuan (US$7,200) from tenants living on the first floor.
According to her son, the woman insisted on going to the station every day at 10am, saying she did not want to stay at home.
He told the newspaper his mother said she was selling maps, but eventually he found out that she had actually been begging.
See photos of the house below!
