A 32-year-old man from Jiangsu, China has reportedly lost close to 5 million yuan (about RM3.2 million) after becoming heavily addicted to in-app game promotions pushed through short-video platforms, according to mainland media reports.
The man, identified as Mr Zhang, said he was initially a successful building materials supplier earning a stable annual income before being exposed to aggressive advertising for an online “treasure hunt” style game in mid-2024.
He claimed the platform used promotional phrases such as “high win rate” and “guaranteed returns”, while livestream hosts encouraged users with slogans like “first draw guaranteed win”, prompting him to make his first deposit out of curiosity.
According to his account, his spending quickly escalated over the following months, with hundreds of transactions recorded and peak monthly top-ups reaching nearly 1 million yuan as he attempted to recover losses and continue playing.
Mr Zhang said the game had no daily spending limit or effective safeguards, allowing continuous large transactions, which eventually led to total losses of approximately 4.985 million yuan through multiple accounts and payment channels.
He also alleged that reward notifications and winning messages displayed on screen created the impression of frequent payouts, but the actual return rates were far lower than expected, leaving him financially devastated.
In response, customer service reportedly expressed surprise at the scale of spending and stated that game-related “guilds” and intermediaries were third-party partners rather than platform employees.
The platform further claimed that current regulations do not require mandatory spending caps, while adding that it would escalate concerns regarding advertising language and alleged misleading claims.
Legal experts cited in the report said the use of terms such as “guaranteed profit” may violate advertising laws and could constitute false commercial promotion. They also noted that if the system involves structured monetisation through intermediaries, it could potentially raise concerns over illegal online gambling operations.
