A Lebanese woman is being hailed a hero after going viral for holding up a Beirut bank with a toy gun. She pulled off the caper just to access $13,000 of her own money to help pay for her sister’s cancer treatment. She walked away from the bank with her cash in a plastic bag, the Associated Press said.

The woman, Sali Hafez, said she attempted the heist because she had made repeated visits to the bank to get her money but was told she could have only $200 per month.

“I had begged the branch manager before for my money, and I told him my sister was dying, didn’t have much time left,” she said, according to the AP. “I reached a point where I had nothing else to lose.”

But she is not the first person in Lebanon so pull such a stunt and be praised by the populace. This summer, a man armed with a shotgun and carrying a canister of gasoline was arrested after going into a Beirut bank and holding 10 people hostage for seven hours. He threatened self-immolation unless he was permitted to withdraw his thousands of dollars in savings to help pay the medical bills of his ailing father, NPR said.

There is a reason these people are taking drastic measures and then being celebrated by the public. Since 2019, the nation has been experiencing a serious economic and financial crisis, one that the world bank has labeled one of the worst in centuries. The country’s currency collapsed, and now about 75% of the population is living in poverty.

The situation is a result of decades of government corruption and mismanagement coupled with piles of debt. The massive and viral explosion in 2020 at the Port of Beirut that killed hundreds and wounded thousands more only exacerbated the problem.

Now banks across Lebanon have closed their doors and imposed strict limits on cash withdrawals, leading to anger and desperation.

The country has a new Parliament but is still deeply divided. A new presidential election is slated for later this year.