Accused of divorce + tax evasion with an 1.8 billion penalty, Lao Gao and Xiao Mo respond: We are doing well, all rumors, netizens point out three major flaws

YouTube channel “Laogao and Xiao Mo,” with 6.72 million subscribers, recently circulated online claiming that they were detained at Dalian Airport and fined 415 million RMB (approximately 1.89 billion TWD). Simultaneously, rumors of divorce spread rapidly, prompting the couple to quickly issue a denial.
(Background recap: Laogao discussed “Bybit theft case, North Korean hackers”: the transaction address gibberish is hard to identify; blames multi-signature personnel for not confirming.)
(Additional context: Laogao talked about Deepseek: absolutely did not plagiarize ChatGPT, using underlying technology to bypass NVIDIA Cuda platform.)

Recently, a screenshot claiming to be an “Administrative Penalty Decision” from Dalian Public Security Bureau has been circulating on X and Threads. The document accuses a 44-year-old man named Gao, currently residing in Singapore, of operating a YouTube channel, selling merchandise, collecting membership fees, and hiding ads since November 2014 via VPN, earning a total of $5.7735 million USD (about 41.57 million RMB). He is fined ten times that amount, totaling 415 million RMB, with a deadline to pay by the end of March 2026. Overdue payments accrue an additional 3% daily.

The document also hints that the individual was detained at the airport during the Lunar New Year when returning from Singapore to Dalian to visit family. Almost everyone who saw the document immediately recognized the target: it’s Laogao.

The news spread like wildfire, rumors of divorce intensified, and then… it was exposed as a fake.

So obviously fake, but why did so many believe it?

Netizens played detective and uncovered three fatal flaws within hours.

First, the ID number doesn’t match. More importantly, longtime viewers know that Laogao has mentioned multiple times in live streams that “Gao” is just a stage name, and his real surname isn’t Gao. But the document clearly states “Gao XX.”

Second, the legal article cited in the document doesn’t exist. The penalty notice references a Chinese law that has not yet been enacted. In other words, the document is using a draft law as the basis for punishment.

Third, the formatting is off. Some netizens compared it with an authentic Dalian administrative penalty decision and found obvious discrepancies in layout, seal placement, and document number format.

A few hours earlier, Laogao and Xiao Mo also issued a statement:

“Recently, false information about my divorce and fines has been circulating online. These are malicious fabrications. Please ignore them. Thank you for your concern; we are doing well.”

Additionally, the day before, Laogao posted a photo of four hands holding handcrafted horse figurines, which fans interpreted as a silent proof that the couple is still together.

Four months of silence and a faceless return

Up to this point, it’s just a standard “fact-check” news story. But why could a blatantly fake document cause a channel with 6.72 million subscribers to face a crisis within half a day? One underlying reason is Laogao and Xiao Mo’s recent information vacuum.

In October 2025, Laogao announced that his pet dog “Liqi” was diagnosed with lymphoma, and the prognosis was “not optimistic.” The channel paused updates indefinitely. The 11-year-old dog was a regular feature on the channel, and his illness helped fans understand the decision to pause.

The silence lasted nearly four months. On January 30, 2026, Laogao unexpectedly uploaded his first video after returning. The video only had audio, no visuals, and Xiao Mo did not appear.

For a channel centered on “couple conversations,” Xiao Mo’s absence immediately sparked speculation. Rumors of divorce on Threads had already been fermenting before the fake document appeared; now, the fake file just provided an “official-looking” outlet for existing anxieties.

Regardless, in the age of information overload on social media, it’s crucial to stay cautious and clear-headed—especially in the cutting-edge fields of cryptocurrency and tokenization, where rumors often spread faster than the truth.