Edited by ZAKIAH KOYA, C. ARUNO, R. ARAVINTHAN
An elderly man in China’s Sichuan province reportedly donated 60,000 yuan (RM39,400) of his retirement savings to a female live streamer to attract attention. Shinchu Daily.
The man’s son, Gao Feng (pseudonym), claimed that his father “fell in love” with the woman. In 2022 alone, her father donated gifts and cash worth more than 60,000 yuan to her through her livestream platform.
“She just lip-syncs and does a little dance. There is no aesthetic element in her livestream performance. Still, my father still likes her,” Gao said.
Gao used an in-app feature to limit her father’s time on the platform. However, the retiree was able to circumvent his son’s restrictions by creating a new account.
After this news came out, many internet users shared similar cases of family members becoming addicted to live streamers.
Experts familiar with the issue told reporters that loneliness is a key factor why older adults often rely on live-stream performers.
> With the rise of scam charities online, Datuk Seri Michael Chong reported sharing three ways to tell the real from the fake china press.
The first method is to determine when the photo used to solicit donations was taken. Chong said many scammers use old photos posted by legitimate charities to solicit money from the public.
The next step, he said, is to always verify the payer’s name before sending money to a bank account.
A final option is to check whether the organization you are collecting donations from is a legally registered charity. Mr Chong said it was safe, but people were urged to find well-known legally registered charities reported in newspapers.
The above article was compiled from local newspapers (Malaysian, Chinese, and Tamil dailies). Therefore, the stories are grouped according to their respective languages/mediums. If a paragraph starts with >, it indicates another news item.
