A 20-year-old woman in Zhengzhou, capital of China’s central Henan province, has allegedly embezzled roughly 17 million yuan ($2.3 million) from her family’s business to spend on livestream tipping.

Tipping is a common livestream practice in which viewers purchase and send virtual gifts to hosts, sometimes to encourage specific behaviors from them. In recent years, several cases involving minors spending large sums on online tipping without their parents’ consent have made national headlines. Authorities have increasingly moved to tighten oversight of the practice.

The woman, surnamed Zhu, reportedly diverted funds over more than two years while managing finances for her family’s wholesale beef business. Zhu’s father accompanied his daughter to turn herself in at their local police station on April 20, in hopes of recovering the losses.

“This 17 million yuan is everything we have,” Zhu’s father told domestic media, noting that, of the 17 million, 3 million was borrowed from relatives and friends, and 5 million came from business partners. “The only way there’s any chance of getting it back is if it’s classified as embezzlement,” he said.

Zhu is reported to have been raised by her father after her parents divorced when she was young. In 2020, she dropped out of vocational school and the following year began managing her father’s business finances.

However, in November 2025, when her father attempted to withdraw funds from his business account, he discovered it was empty. Bank records showed that between July 2024 and November 2025, over 17 million yuan had been transferred to an unspecified short-video platform.

Zhu is alleged to have spent nearly 11 million yuan on livestream tipping and over 6 million yuan on card-opening games, in which viewers buy boxes of collectible cards that livestream hosts then open on air. Rare or high-grade cards can be resold for cash or kept as collectibles. Zhu’s largest single transaction was 100,000 yuan.

Her father told domestic media that limited family communication and emotional neglect may have led his daughter to seek validation from livestreamers. Zhu reportedly developed emotionally intense online relationships with streamers, involving daily private messaging and affectionate language.

Zhou Zhaocheng, a lawyer at Beijing An Jian Law Office, told local media that Zhu faces between 10 years and life in prison if convicted of embezzlement.

However, if it can be proven that she only temporarily misappropriated the funds with a clear intention to repay them, the sentence may be reduced to three to 10 years in prison, he said.

Zhou added that the streamers, multichannel network agencies, and platforms that benefited from Zhu’s transactions may be required to return the money and could face joint liability if found to have failed to properly supervise or prevent abnormal spending.

A date for Zhu’s trial has not yet been set.

Editor: Marianne Gunnarsson.

(Header image: Fantastic Graphics/VCG)