Girl, 11, blows her parents’ £12,000 life savings after using her mother’s old phone to tip her favourite vloggers
- Mother in China was shocked to find money had ‘vanished’ from her account
- She had given her old mobile phone and bank password to her daughter
- The woman wanted the girl to use the handset to pay for snacks in shops
- But unexpectedly, she used it to give cash gifts to live-streaming hosts
A Chinese girl has reportedly drained her parents’ savings without them realising by using her mother’s old phone to tip live-streaming hosts.
Ms Long, from central China’s Hubei province, was devastated to discover that more than 110,000 yuan (£12,260) had ‘mysteriously vanished’ from her bank account, according to Chinese media.
After checking the transaction records, she discovered the money had been spent by her 11-year-old daughter in the space of around six months.
The schoolgirl in China (not the one pictured, file photo) used her mother’s old phone to watch live-streaming shows and tipping hosts. She spent the money in the space of six months
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Ms Long and her husband run a stall selling steam buns in the city of Jingzhou. She gave her old phone to her daughter, a fifth-grade pupil, to play as ‘a toy’.
Speaking to Chinese news outlet Kan Kan, Ms Long said her daughter had managed to remember the password to her online cash account.
The mother had given the pin number to her daughter so the girl could use the phone to pay for snacks in shops on her own.
However, the girl who was apparently engrossed in watching live-streaming shows, found out she could also use the phone to give tips to the hosts she liked.
A study reveals nearly 70 per cent of children in China have their own smartphones (file photo)
Live-streaming is a big business in China and hosts make a living by getting tips and virtual gifts from viewers (file photos). Last year, a 14-year-old Chinese boy splurged £17,800 tipping his favourite hosts from his parents’ bank account on his mobile phone
Ms Long said her daughter had spent more than 10,000 yuan (£1,160) playing video games in addition to tipping.
She only found out the situation after half a year because she said her old phone did not have the fiction of showing payment notifications.
Ms Long has reported the case to the police. She has also hired a lawyer and is hoping to retrieve the money.
Experts said Ms Long might be able to get the money back if she could prove that it was indeed spent by her 11-year-old daughter. Anyone under the age of 18 is deemed a minor in China and has limited capacity for civil conduct.
The news is the latest in a series of similar cases in China, which see young children spending a large amount of money on live-streaming shows and video games – without their parents’ knowledge.
In most cases, the children spend the money through mobile phones.
A recent study reveals nearly 70 per cent of children in China have their own smartphones and nearly half of the children aged between seven and nine are given access to internet.
Last year, an 11-year-old boy in south-east China spent his father’s 30,000 yuan (£3,340) after getting addicted to a video game on his mobile phone. Another 14-year-old boy splurged 160,000 yuan (£17,800) from his migrant worker parents bank account on female live-streaming hosts within two months.
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