A Chinese man tried paying his wife to stop spending time with her virtual boyfriend.The man asked his wife to stop using a particular program for a year in exchange for $2,800, and she initially agreed. The woman reportedly transferred the money into her daughter's savings account until a week later, when she reinstalled the game because a new dating scene for her virtual boyfriend was released.'As a married woman, I still feel a bit guilty.'The story of a woman going by "Minnie" is one of many chronicled in a recent article about Chinese women who are addicted to otomo games, virtual romance games targeted at women.The most popular, Love and Romance, made $750 million in 2025, according to Pocket Gamer, with Sensor Tower reporting that the game had over 100,000 downloads in the Apple Store in December alone.Other games like Light and Night or Beyond the World have women choose between different lovers who represent various personality types or themes. Collectible cards offer micro-transaction opportunities in order to unlock outfits, scenes, and storylines.According to KrAsia, these games are wedging their way into women's real lives at an alarming speed.RELATED: 1980s-inspired AI companion promises to watch and interrupt you: 'You can see me? That's so cool' Photo by Jiangang Wang These games, in conjunction with chatbots like ChatGPT and DeepSeek, are being used by women to create a constant stream of contact with their AI boyfriends."If not for ChatGPT and Love and Deepspace, I wouldn't have realized how deeply I need to be understood and loved or that such needs could be perfectly met," Chi Cheng told the outlet. "But if you told me to delete the game and stop using ChatGPT now, I'd lose my mind."In just five months, Cheng has spent over $1,100 chasing the cards of her favorite male companion, Xavier.Minnie, however, prefers Rafayel, and even though she is married, she said the character is "someone who loves reading and art, is emotionally stable, understands finance, and never argues."Minnie has two Love and Deepspace accounts, having spent around $2,500 USD. Although she said she does not have an unhappy marriage, and she even has a daughter, the digital partner is still her perfect match."Even with a compatible partner, there will always be tension and stress. A 100% match doesn't exist in real life," the woman explained. AI boyfriend in real lifeMinnie noted that she uses her AI boyfriend's chatbot function for real-life conversation, which is what led to her husband's aforementioned monetary ultimatum:"I’ll give you [$2,800]. Just stop playing Love and Deepspace for a year."Citing that she once read, "The best partner is someone you can talk to in the middle of the night," Minnie revealed, "If my husband finally falls asleep after working late, I can't wake him just to talk. But that's when I can — by launching Love and Deepspace."All the women KrAsia interviewed use this function on a daily basis, and Minnie even uses the character for fitness motivation. During postpartum workouts, Minnie was able to extend the time she could hold a plank position after her coach joked, "Try looking at your favorite guy; maybe you'll last longer."She began staring at Rafayel and extended her ability to hold the position from three seconds to 48 seconds. An attached photo showed her staring at her phone during her workout.Other extensions for the app include an augmented reality feature where users can view their companion in their current environment through their phone.Cheng reportedly often uses this feature to imagine Xavier walking beside her or sitting in a nearby chair.RELATED: ‘Coded Casanovas’: The AI trend stirring dread, disgust, and fury With plummeting marriage rates in China already, the fear is that this already massive industry will become more pervasive, as other girls like Yangtao explain that the reason otome games are so appealing is "maybe because real-life marriage is just ... dull."She added, "But people never stop craving romance."Another woman, Meiyi, 35, told herself, "You're at a crossroads. Don't play this game, or you'll get addicted." She apparently downloaded it anyway.What became clear with the women in their stories was often directly admitted to; Minnie put it plainly:"In the game, there’s no conflict, no arguments. Even small fights just build up to the next emotional high. Interacting with an in-game character feels more exciting than real life. But as a married woman, I still feel a bit guilty."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Minnesota is hardly the only state whose kindness to migrants from the third world has been abused. Michiganders, too, have apparently opened their arms to foreign-born fraudsters who are more than happy to steal from their host state's most vulnerable residents.Nkechy Ezeh, a woke Nigerian who served as a professor at Aquinas College until 2023, has pleaded guilty to wire fraud in a scheme that bled taxpayers for $1 million and forced an organization that funded early learning initiatives for poor kids to close.'Her theft of millions of dollars intended for the most vulnerable of children was brazen, all-encompassing, and unconscionable.'Ezeh could face up to 20 years in prison for the fraud charge and another five years for tax evasion — a charge to which she also pleaded guilty on Wednesday.In the years since she migrated to the U.S., Ezeh has complained about "structural racism" while being showered with awards and opportunities.In 2018, for instance, the West Michigan Woman Brilliance Awards named her woman of the year. In 2020, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer appointed Ezeh to the executive committee of Michigan's Early Childhood Investment Corporation. In 2021, Aquinas College honored the Nigerian fraudster with its Distinguished Service Award.The acclaim and upward mobility evidently weren't enough for Ezeh, who decided to live a jet-set lifestyle at taxpayers' expense.According to a 2023 whistleblower complaint, Ezeh used various interrelated organizations to funnel hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to herself as well as to friends and family members while serving as CEO of the Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative.RELATED: Somali terror group cashing in on your tax dollars? Minnesota's child-care fraud whistleblowers warned about a decade ago. Photo by Matthew Horwood/Getty ImagesThe ELNC was a nonprofit in Grand Rapids that Ezeh — who claimed in a 2022 profile that "injustice makes me cry" — founded with the purported aim of providing state "funding, advocacy, and high-quality early childhood educational services to families, children, and neighborhoods that are more 'at-risk or vulnerable.'"The complaint filed against Ezeh indicated that she funneled funds from the ELNC with the help of the nonprofit's bookkeeper, Sharon Killebrew, who secretly paid herself nearly $1 million between June 2017 and April 2023.Court documents reviewed by WOOD-TV indicate that Ezeh not only created nearly $500,000 in fake invoices with Killebrew but created two fake day-care businesses to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars to herself and others.Ezeh reportedly used some of the stolen taxpayer money to pay for trips to Hawaii, Liberia, and Nigeria for herself and others.ELNC sued Ezeh and Killebrew in September 2023, but by that time, the damage was done. ELNC had to close its doors on account of the financial impact of the duo's embezzlement and fraud, which meant the loss of both 35 jobs and a source of support for numerous Michigan families.According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Clay Stiffler, the victims of the the fraud committed by Ezeh — who has been touted as a "champion for poor black and brown kids" — "were mostly children of color under the age of five years old, 72% of whom lived below the federal poverty level in some of the poorest neighborhoods in Kent County, Kalamazoo, and Battle Creek."Killebrew initially insisted she was innocent, claiming she "didn't steal anything." However, when confronted with the mountain of evidence to the contrary, she pleaded guilty in June. Killebrew was sentenced to 54 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution.Like her accomplice, Ezeh initially denied her guilt but has since admitted to embezzling over $1 million.The Nigerian fraudster's attorney, Mary Chartier, told MLive/the Grand Rapids Press, "Ms. Ezeh is committed to taking full responsibility and accountability for her actions. She is deeply remorseful to anyone who has been negatively impacted."Amy DeLeeuw, the president of the apparently defunct nonprofit, stated that she was "disappointed by Nkechy Ezeh’s failure to meaningfully articulate the nature and scope of her criminal misconduct during her change of plea hearing today. Her theft of millions of dollars intended for the most vulnerable of children was brazen, all-encompassing, and unconscionable.""To date, Nkechy has made no effort to repay any of the millions of dollars she stole from ELNC," continued DeLeeuw. "I trust Nkechy’s demeanor at today's hearing did not go unnoticed by Chief Judge Hala Jarbou. I and the board will have more to say in our victim impact statement and look forward to her sentencing hearing on May 13."Ezeh has reportedly agreed to pay $1.4 million in restitution to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Early Head Start programs and other agencies that gave grants to the ELNC as well as nearly $400,000 in back taxes to the Internal Revenue Service.Whitmer's office did not respond to Blaze News' request for comment.Aquinas College confirmed that Ezeh retired in May 2023 and told Blaze News that the college is not in a position to comment on Ezeh's outside endeavors.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

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