Chinese woman, 19, joins dad's company after dropping out of school, allegedly steals S$3.17 million to tip live streamers

A 19-year-old woman in Zhengzhou, China, allegedly embezzled 17 million yuan (S$3.17 million) from her father's company.

She purportedly used the money on tipping live streamers and miscellaneous online spending.

According to Chinese media reports, Xiao Zhu had joined her father's firm after dropping out of vocational school.

She eventually took over some finance-based tasks for the company.

Her father soon discovered some discrepancies in the records.

The shortfall he found amounted to several hundred thousand yuan.

While his daughter admitted to taking the money and spending it on livestreamers, that sum was just the tip of the iceberg.

Over more than one year at the company, the teenager apparently embezzled up to 17 million yuan (S$3.17 million).

The father told the media that he was in quite a bind.

He initially did not want to turn his daughter in to the police for fear of "ruining" her future.

However, after consulting with legal professionals, he decided that turning her in and treating this as a criminal case was the only way for him to recoup some of the losses.

The father admitted his limited education and busy schedule had meant he did not communicate frequently enough with his daughter, and he also said his ex-wife had neglected the daughter.

He then said the livestreamers and online users showering her with attention and chatting with her had led to her spending that considerable sum on them.

Investigations are ongoing.

Image from Sohu