Losing Bet: Chinese teen spends family's life savings of $64,000 on mobile games in 4 months

The incident of a 13-year-old girl in China, who was addicted to online gaming and spent 449,500 yuan (US$64,000) stolen from her mother on app games within four months, has caused a significant stir on mainland social media. The girl, whose identity remains undisclosed, attended a secondary school in Henan province, central China. Her addiction to gaming apps on her smartphone led her to steal money from her mother. The girl’s mother, named Wang, became aware of the theft when a teacher expressed concerns about her daughter’s excessive phone usage during school hours, suspecting an addiction to online pay-to-play games. Wang decided to check her bank account balance and was shocked to find only 0.5 yuan (US$0.07) remaining, as reported by Elephant News. A viral video accompanying the news report shows Wang flipping through bank statements that meticulously document every transaction made by her daughter for purchasing online games. When the girl’s father confronted her about her spending, she admitted to using 120,000 yuan (US$17,000) to buy the games, 210,000 yuan for in-game purchases, and 100,000 yuan to acquire games for at least ten of her classmates. In the video, the girl explained that she reluctantly paid for her classmates’ games when they requested her to do so. She admitted to having limited knowledge about money and its source. When she came across a debit card at home, she simply connected it to her smartphone. Additionally, she recalled her mother sharing the password for the card, instructing her to use it in case she required money when her parents were not present. Despite feeling frightened by the overwhelming requests from classmates to purchase games, the girl was too scared to seek help from her teachers. She expressed concern that her parents would find out and become angry. Wang, her mother, was unaware of the situation as her daughter had deleted all the transaction records from her smartphone. It was only when the teacher contacted Wang that she learned about the incident. The story has gained significant traction on Chinese social media platforms. One individual commented that the 13-year-old girl was well aware of her actions but chose not to admit it. Another person placed the blame on the parents. According to a 2022 report from McGill University, which examined smartphone addiction among 34,000 individuals aged 15 to 35 in 24 countries, including the United States and Japan, China had the highest number of addicts, followed by Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. In February, a 14-year-old girl in northern China nearly lost her life after spending 81 hours on her smartphone. In 2021, a 13-year-old girl in southern China stabbed her mother with a knife after her mother expressed concerns about her smartphone addiction. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.