A live broadcaster, who called herself “Your Highness Qiao Biluo” and has more than 360,000 fans on the live-streaming platform of DouYu, may face more than 10 years in prison for fraud, “aicaijing.com.cn” reported.
The female broadcaster,who disguised herself with video filters that made her look younger, a sweet voice modulator and a princess-like name; had attracted tens of thousands of fans since she kicked off her first live show of playing games on June 17, this year.
According to a reporter with the Beijing News, over the past month, her top fan has contributed 32-thousand yuan (4.6-thousand US dollars) to her earnings and the number two and three on her fan list have respectively contributed 15,000 yuan (2173 US dollars) and 4,000 yuan (580 US dollars) worth of gifts.
This is now common practice in China’s livestreaming industry, where fans spend thousands of yuan in support and gifts for their favourite stream hosts.
The DouYu broadcaster once declared that she wouldn’t expose her true face until she gains 100-thousand followers. However on July 25, the cartoon anime picture that originally covered her face disappeared unexpectedly after a technical glitch during a joint-live show by her and another hostess.
Her fans soon discovered that the streamer is a middle-aged woman with a different appearance. Some of them are so disappointed that they claimed her appearance is old enough to be a grandmother.
Live broadcasters on DouYu has the option to use cartoon anime for disguise during a live broadcast.
But, a staff member who works at a law office said in an interview with “aicaijing.com.cn”, that her posting fake photos and demanding gifts misguided her fans to pay her money and this behavior has been suspected as committing fraud. This insider also suggested that 100,000-yuan is a large sum that may put the broadcaster in jail for more than 10 years.
Soon after the incident, DouYu announced it would shut down the broadcaster’s live studio and that all her videos would be removed.
Statistics show during the fourth quarter of 2018, DouYu was the largest game-streaming platform by average total monthly active users on both mobile and PC.
