Starved and stole: a man spent $550 thousand on donations to a streamer for the sake of one of her phrases (2 photos)

At first, Hong, a Chinese man, spent his family's money, but they quickly limited his access to finances. After that, he began stealing copper products at work, for which he was eventually arrested.





A man from China spent $550,000 on donations to a streamer. All so that she would call him her brother on air.

We are talking about a resident of southeastern China with the surname Hong. At the beginning of the year, he became interested in online broadcasts and poured his money into supporting one of the female presenters, whose identity is not disclosed. He spent not only his own savings, but also his family's. This forced his relatives to limit access to finances, but even after this, he did not calm down and continued to spend money.

The Chinese man worked in the hardware trade and at one point began to steal copper materials. Starting in May, Hong regularly committed crimes for the sake of a new portion of donations to his favorite streamer, until in mid-October this was noticed at the enterprise.



After a police investigation, Hong, accompanied by his family, finally surrendered to law enforcement. Initially, he confessed to only the two most recent thefts, denying all the others, but a report on his financial transactions with unexplained income put everything in its place.

In just half a year, he stole $316,000 worth of products 40 times and spent it all on tips for the live broadcast host to boost her ratings.

"I didn't want to date her. I just wanted to hear her call me 'brother,'" the man said.

He also shared that due to his obsession and poor financial situation, he had to eat only regular steamed buns to satisfy his hunger and feed himself.

As a result, the suspect was arrested on suspicion of theft and the plant has already received part of the money back. The publication noted that this passion for live broadcasts and their hosts is quite a popular phenomenon in China. As of 2019, the market for virtual gift donations reached $19 billion, and by next year it could grow to $57 billion.