A man in China has raised eyebrows after using his family’s life savings and stealing hundreds of thousands to send to a live streamer.
It’s extremely common for fans of streamers to show appreciation for their content by sending them money, gifts or subscribing to them, but one man in China took his obsession way too far.
As reported by the South China Morning Post, a man with the surname Hong became so enthralled with a streamer calling him “brother,” he ended up draining his family of their life savings to send her cash.
The man even resorted to just eating plain steamed buns, while sending everything he had to the unnamed creator.
Eventually, his family cut off access to their funds, so Hong resorted to breaking the law to acquire funds to send.
Man steals over $300,000 and sends it to streamer
The man, who was making deliveries as part of his family’s hardware business, began stealing copper materials and sold the items to waste recycling stations.
However, when a significant amount of copper went missing, a factory contacted the police, and Hong ended up turning himself in.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
When the authorities showed they had evidence of his financial transactions, Hong confessed to 40 thefts. In total, he had stolen $316,000, all of which he sent to the streamer.
“I didn’t want to meet her; I just wanted to hear her call me ‘brother,’” he claimed.
In total, he had sent the creator 4 million yuan ($550,000 USD), which shocked the online community.
“If you just want to hear [her call you brother], why not record it and play it on repeat?” one user asked.
“Maybe he should see a psychiatrist,” said another.
This isn’t the first time someone has spent big money on a creator. In 2022, Twitch star Amouranth was sent $70K in cash, a new iPhone, and self-defense items from an anonymous viewer.
