A man in eastern China was arrested for operating more than 400 mobile phones simultaneously to enhance his chances of winning gifts in live-streams.
The man, surnamed Ma, was discovered managing the hundreds of devices in a small garage within a residential compound in Jiangsu province in August, as reported by China Newsweek on December 9.
An elderly passer-by noticed the unusual activity in Ma’s garage and reported it to the police, suspecting it to be a scam operation.
Last year, reports emerged about a Chinese fraud company that promised to boost live-streamers’ traffic and promote their businesses, but instead used hundreds of phones to fabricate viewer engagement.
However, the police investigation into Ma revealed a different scenario.
Ma admitted that he utilised the phones, each linked to a separate live-streaming platform account, to access the same live-stream and increase his chances of winning the so-called “lucky bags”.
