Embezzlement, lies, and camgirls — accountant steals 9.3 million yuan to woo live streamers

A male accountant in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, has been sentenced to seven years in prison (in Chinese) after stealing a staggering 9.3 million yuan ($1.44 million) from his employer, a real estate company. He used the money to pay camgirls on live-streaming platforms and ask them out in real life.

The theft came to light in February 2017, when the company conducted an audit and found that the 29-year-old man, surnamed Wang, had been embezzling large amounts of money. The company reported him to the police, who tracked him down to a hotel in Shanghai where he had been staying with a female live streamer. He attempted suicide by slitting his wrists, but the police intervened and arrested him.

When asked where the money went, Wang confessed that he spent most of it on virtual gifts for female live streamers and expenses while meeting them offline. He said that his reckless extravagance on live-streaming platforms started when he realized that camgirls only interacted with viewers who sent a lot of gifts. Wang was married and earned a monthly salary of around 3,000 yuan ($466).

Aware of Wang’s spending habits, some live streamers approached Wang, offering to meet offline. According to the police, Wang lied to his family about having business trips in Shanghai every weekend while he was taking live streamers to high-end restaurants and luxury hotels.

In a news segment on nationwide broadcaster CCTV, footage of live streamers was used. While their faces were blurred out, internet users still recognized the famous camgirl Féng Tímò 冯提莫. In this short live-streamed video (in Chinese), Féng Tímò admits that she had once spent time with Wang, and offers to return all the gifts she received from him.