A mum has spoken of her shock after her young daughter spent the family's entire life savings on mobile phone games.
Gong Yiwang was devastated when she found just seven cents remaining in her bank account, with her 13-year-old daughter spending £68,000 to fund her gaming addiction.
The young girl, who has not been named, even leant money to her friends at school and was only caught when teachers at her boarding school phoned Gong to tell her they were worried she was addicted to video games.
The spending spree lasted from January to May last year and has left the girl's parents in disbelief.
"I never thought a 13-year-old girl could do this," the girl's mum told Chinese TV station Elephant News, via Daily Mail.
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'I'm in a daze; my head feels like it's going to explode."
The girl managed to spend the money without her parents knowing by deleting chat and transaction records, meaning all of the payments were concealed.
As well as spending money on games for herself, Gong's daughter also used the funds on her friends, forking out for in-game purchases.
"If I didn't send it to them, they would bother me all day," the young girl told Elephant News.
"If I told the teacher, I was afraid that the teacher would tell my parents and that my parents would be angry."
The amazing story of the girl's spending spree went viral on Chinese social media, racking up 140 million views on Weibo, Insider reports.
According to reports the girl managed to rack up a £16,800 bill for game accounts, spent £30,000 on in-game purchases and also sent thousands to ten of her classmates. In total the reported total cost was £68,000.
Internet addiction is considered a clinical disorder in China and authorities have been working to try and curb gaming addiction.
In 2021 children in China were told they could only play video games for one hour on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in a desperate move by authorities to stop "youth video game addiction".
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