10-Year-Old Chinese Girl Steals Money For Video Games

A 10-year-old Chinese girl was busted by police after stealing a chunk of change in order to feed her video game addiction, according to The Mary Sue.

The suspect was reportedly so addicted to gaming that she was willing to swipe over $1,600 worth of cash from a cell phone store. When the girl saw that the cash register was unlocked and unattended, she helped herself to the scratch contained within.

Shortly after stealing the money from the shop, the little girl returned to purchase currency for her favorite video game.

According to Kotaku, it didn’t take long for the cell phone store’s employees to realize that quite a bit of money was missing from the till. When police were summoned to examine the security footage, they saw the 10-year-old girl crawling on the floor behind the counter.

Authorities eventually found out where the 10-year-old thief lived. After a short conversation with her grandparents, police retrieved the stolen money and returned it to the cell phone shop.

The girl said she took the money in order to purchase Q Coins, which is a form of currency used by many online games. The digital cash is used to buy clothing, items, and other trinkets in titles published by Tencent.

The People’s Daily reports the 10-year-old will avoid any sort of legal trouble if her grandparents agree to punish her for taking the money. Chances are the little girl won’t be playing any video games until some time in the distant future.

This isn’t the first time someone has done something blatantly illegal in order to acquire a handful of Q coins. In November, a security guard who was hooked on video games charged over $9,000 worth of virtual currency to his unsuspecting employer.

What do you think about the 10-year-old Chinese girl who stole $1,600 to fuel her video game addiction?