A man in Zhengzhou has ended his marriage after discovering his wife secretly transferred roughly 680,000 yuan (about $94,000) of their family savings to a male livestreamer over several years.
The husband, identified in SCMP reports as Mr. Liu, spent eight years living extremely frugally while handing over nearly all his income to his wife. He believed the arrangement gave her financial security and stability for their household, which includes at least one child.
Instead of managing their savings, his unemployed wife became deeply involved with livestreaming platforms. She developed an intense parasocial attachment to a male streamer and funneled their money to him through donations and virtual gifts.
The two never met in person. The wife interacted with the streamer only through his broadcasts and chat, yet her emotional investment led her to secretly drain what should have been years of accumulated savings.
Mr. Liu only learned about the missing money when he tried to access their funds. Rather than finding the nest egg he expected after years of sacrifice, he discovered they were actually in debt.
The revelation devastated him on multiple levels. His wife had not only betrayed his trust but effectively redirected years of his labor to support a stranger’s online lifestyle. The financial damage now affects their child’s future as well.
Mr. Liu filed for divorce after confirming the extent of the spending. Reports do not indicate whether he pursued legal action to recover any of the money or whether the streamer was aware the donations came from a married woman using her husband’s earnings.
This case shows how parasocial relationships can spiral out of control. These one-sided emotional bonds form when viewers feel intimacy or romantic attachment to creators who may barely know they exist.
Similar cases have emerged globally. Viewers have taken out loans, stolen from employers, or drained family accounts to fund online personalities. In China specifically, multiple incidents of teenagers spending parents’ savings on games and livestreams prompted regulators to impose spending caps and age verification requirements.
When trust becomes debt
The case also raises questions about financial transparency in marriage. In many parts of East Asia, wives commonly manage household budgets even when not employed. Mr. Liu’s decision to hand over his earnings was culturally normal, not reckless.
What made this situation abnormal was the complete lack of oversight. Eight years of financial opacity allowed the problem to grow from occasional donations into life-altering debt before detection was possible.
Some streamers have begun voluntarily capping donations or refunding unusually large sums when they suspect financial harm. But most platforms place the burden on user self-control rather than enforcing hard limits for adults.
