Tseung Kwan O teen ransacks mother’s safe stealing $380,000 for Xiaohongshu donations

A mother’s discovery of a massive sum of missing cash led to the arrest of her own teenage daughter in Tseung Kwan O on Friday afternoon, with police investigations revealing the youngster had spent the funds on digital gifts for mainland social media influencers.

The incident came to light shortly after 1pm yesterday, when police received a report from a 47-year-old woman surnamed Chak. 

The mother reported that approximately HK$380,000 in cash, which had been kept inside a locked safe in a bedroom at her apartment in Sheung Yan House on the Sheung Tak Estate, had mysteriously vanished. Believing the money had been stolen, she immediately sought assistance from local authorities.

A stealthy two-month heist

Police officers dispatched to the scene launched an investigation and arrested Chak’s 13-year-old daughter, surnamed Yau, on suspicion of theft. 

Further inquiries exposed a troubling backstory behind the family theft. Sources reveal that the teenager had recently become heavily addicted to the mainland Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu, frequently watching live broadcasts and sending expensive virtual gifts to content creators. 

Aware that her parents kept a large sum of cash in a home safe, the teen began executing a stealthy, gradual theft over a two-month period between April and June. 

Whenever her mother was distracted, the girl would sneak into her handbag, steal the key to the safe, and take small amounts of cash at a time. 

Anger leads to mother reporting daughter

The parents initially noticed nothing amiss until Friday, when the mother opened the safe and realized HK$380,000 was completely gone. 

When confronted by her mother, the teenager confessed to the entire scheme.

Overcome with anger, the mother decided to report her daughter to the police. Arriving officers inspected the teen's phone and verified multiple transactions and high-value donations on her Xiaohongshu account.

Xiaohongshu allows users to purchase a virtual currency called Xiaohongshu Coin with real money, which is then used to buy virtual gifts to tip or "reward" creators during livestreams or on individual posts.

Regulatory loopholes and rising concerns

While mainland Chinese regulations strictly prohibit online platforms from offering tipping services to children under eight and mandate that minors aged eight to 16 must obtain parental consent to make such donations, enforcing these age-verification rules remains a challenge. 

Cases of minors stealing from family members to fund social media tipping have increasingly made headlines in recent months. 

In one of the most high-profile mainland incidents in April, a 19-year-old girl in Zhengzhou, Henan, embezzled 17 million yuan (~HK$18.3 million) from her father's company over 18 months to spend entirely on livestream tipping, driving her father's business into bankruptcy and leaving the family in massive debt.

The arrested 13-year-old remains in custody for questioning, and the case is being handled by the Tseung Kwan O police district.

(Updated at 2.25pm)

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