Warning: This article contains discussion of addiction which some readers may find distressing.
A man tipped an influencer more than half a million dollars in the space of a year, all while living on a diet consisting entirely on plain steamed buns.
A Chinese man known only as Hong, of the city of Ningbo in the Zhejiang region of southeastern China less than 100 miles south of Shanghai, has been ridiculed on social media after developing an obsession with a live-streaming platform.
Soon after joining, he began supporting one particular 'key opinion leader' (KOL), which according to Melt Water is an influential professional in a respective field who has the ability to sway public opinion about matters, products, or services.
After spending all his own cash and even his family's savings, he then began stealing from the family business in order to feed his new-found addiction.
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It all began earlier this year, he started off with his own money and then moved onto draining the family savings before they cut him off and then in May. He then began swiping copper materials from his family's business in the hardware trade industry.
Once he'd pinched enough, he'd then take it to the tip to trade it in for cash.
He pilfered the copper more than 40 times between May and October 15 when the factory caught on to it going missing - the man had traded in that much of the metal that it was valued overall at $316,000.
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They contacted the local police station explaining there was thief before ultimately realizing the burglar was their own son.
So what was the one word he wanted the streamer to say to him?
I'll let Hong explain that. Speaking per South China Morning Post, he said: “I didn’t want to meet her; I just wanted to hear her call me ‘brother.’"
He got a bit of grilling on Chinese social media with one person saying: "Four million yuan for a single word, ‘Brother’? Maybe he should see a psychiatrist."
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While another added: "If you just want to hear it, why not record it and play it on repeat?"
To me, ridiculing a man for an addiction doesn't sit right - you wouldn't grill an alcoholic, you'd probably take pity on them, the same if someone was suffering with a narcotic addiction.
The difference here is you can kind of tell who is abusing substances, but behavioural addictions can go under the radar - while it might sound weird to you that someone would steal from their own family to tip an influencer, addicts have been stealing to feed addictions from the dawn of time... that's addiction for you.
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It might just resonate more with me than the majority of our readership as I'm a gambling addict, although March will mark four years of abstinence.
If you've been affected by addiction and want to speak to someone in confidence, you can call American Addiction Centers on (888) 324-0595, available 24/7, or contact them through their website.
Topics: China, Mental Health, Social Media, Money
Joe Yates