The internet has ease many things in life. And with the convenience of digital payment platforms, life has never been easier.
While the purpose of the technology is to benefit humanity, there are some downsides of e-commerce.
And the most common that people may experience, is addiction.
It's really effortless to browser online platforms to find things to buy. But with the availability of credit cards and other payment methods that allow shoppers to buy the things they want by paying for them later, it's extremely easy to get carried away.
And this time, a woman from China died because of her "compulsive shopping disorder".
Making it even more tragic, the woman died because her father killed her.
Liu Juan, a woman in her 30s, was a security guard working in a local train station.
Her income that was around 4,000 yuan ($560) earned her a decent living.
While basic necessities such as food and clothing were not an issue for her, she simply couldn't afford bigger purchases.
Liu certainly had experience buying things online. But it was in 2019, that her addiction to online shopping began.
Back then, she would only receive a few credit card statements every other day.
But when her addiction turned for the worse, she would receive many packages daily, to the point that newer ones came in before she even had time to open older ones, and at the same time, there would be new ones waiting at her front door.
Her addiction was so bad, that she was raking up debts extremely quickly.
Her first frustration was when she couldn't afford to buy food to even feed herself.
This was when she called for her father, who also worked as a security guard in a local train station.
Seeing his daughter's addiction, the father was clearly annoyed. But his affection as a father urged him to help Liu pay off her debts.
At first, the father gave up his savings that amounts to 100,000 yuan. The father also went to his friends and relatives to come up with more than 500,000 yuan or around $70,000.
Her father, Liu Gang, sought even more loads, amassing to an additional $10,000.
Liu seemed to have promised her father to quit her extravagant shopping spree, but unfortunately she didn't actually give up.
With the money at her disposal, instead of paying off her debts, she continued fulfilling her online shopping desires.
She also went frenzy by borrowing even more money from relatives and her friends, and also took a number of online loans to fund her spending.
Within 3 years, Liu has borrowed more than 1 million yuan, or around $140,000.
Two days before the tragic incident, Liu Gang confided to his relatives, and shared that his daughter has hundreds of thousands of yuans in debts. His relatives felt his sorrow, and lent him 20,000 yuan.
The one night, a relative invited Liu Gang to dinner and reminded him to be careful that Liu Juan might be cheated into borrowing from loan sharks, as the reason why she couldn't pay off her debts.
In order to help Liu Gang, the relative lent him another 30,000 yuan.
Later that night, Liu Gang returned home after drinking two bottles of rice wine and beer.
Just when he opened the front door and entered his home, he saw his daughter swiping her phone, like usual, attempting to buy even more things, just like usual.
Liu Gang who was rather drunk, had another quarrel with his daughter over the debt repayment.
The father lost control of his temper, and said that he would rather die.
But during the dispute, Liu Gang went to the kitchen and grabbed a knife, and stabbed her daughter to death.
He then called the police and waited for them to arrive.
The the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court convicted Liu Gang of intentional homicide, and sentenced him to 15 years’ jail, and deprived him of political rights for four years.
Zheng Qi, the defense lawyer of the defendant who represented the case, said that this tragedy is an extreme case and rare. However, he urged people to know that online shopping addiction is also a kind of Internet addiction, which is not only useless, but also more likely to fall into internet traps.
