20-Year-Old Malaysian Secretary Steals SGD38,000 From Company To Tip TikTok Influencers

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A 20-year-old Malaysian secretary has been sentenced to four months in prison in Singapore after stealing over SGD38,000 (RM126,041) from her employer to give as tips to TikTok influencers.

Zhou Yu’en (transliteration) pleaded guilty on Thursday (10 July) to one charge of criminal breach of trust.

A second charge under Singapore’s Section 477A of the Penal Code (falsification of accounts by a clerk, officer, or servant) for forging payment vouchers was taken into consideration during sentencing.

Zhou worked as a secretary at New Lixing Hardware and Environmental Pte Ltd, a recycling company, earning SGD2,300 per month from 25 June 2024 to 9 January of this year.

The company’s process worked like this:

When the cash box ran low, Zhou would notify her boss, who would either give her money directly or put it in the box after hours.

On 2 December 2024, Zhou’s supervisor went overseas, leaving her alone in the office.

That’s when she started stealing.

From December 2, 2024, to January 9, 2025:

Zhou also forged payment vouchers and signatures to cover her tracks, stealing the corresponding amounts to avoid detection.

All the stolen money went toward tipping social media influencers—a practice known as “da shang” (打赏), where fans give virtual gifts that translate to real money for content creators.

The term literally means “to reward”.

The prosecution noted that Zhou:

They requested a sentence of four to six months’ imprisonment. The judge sentenced her to four months in prison.

This case highlights how social media culture and parasocial relationships with online influencers can lead people to make extreme financial decisions.

Zhou essentially threw away her career and freedom to support strangers online.

The irony? Her monthly salary of SGD2,300 meant she stole the equivalent of over 16 months’ wages in just over a month – all to give virtual tips to people who likely never knew she existed.

Story adapted from Chinese language court reporting by Lianhe Zaobao.

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