If you are on the brainrot side of Instagram, you may have seen a woman with long hair, white painted face and red lipstick dancing with men on your feed. The videos first look harmless, albeit just some strange social media trend, but once you dig deeper, the reality gets much darker. In early July, China was shaken by one of the most bizarre and disturbing scandals in recent internet history. Read on to know the full timeline for this harrowing case.
A man in Nanjing, posing as a woman named Sister Hong, lured hundreds of men through dating apps, engaged in s*xual acts and secretly filmed them without consent. The explicit videos were then sold to online communities where users had to pay to access the content.
July 2025
The Sister Hong story first broke out in July. The man had been uploading the non-consensual explicit videos for a while, but the case gained attention when viral videos of him with his victim started going viral on X and Telegram.
RedNote/Xiaohongshu was one of the first platforms where the Sister Hong content started emerging in China. Many users took to it to share initial reports, discuss identities, and post commentary on the scandal. Rumours surfaced about a mysterious woman, “Sister Hong,” in Nanjing seducing and secretly filming hundreds of men through dating apps.
July 3-5
Chinese social media platforms RedNote/Xiaohongshu were the first ones to break out Sister Hong’s scandal. Many users took to it to share reports and commentaries about a mysterious woman, “Sister Hong,” in Nanjing, China, seducing and secretly filming hundreds of men through dating apps. It was later revealed that Sister Hong was actually a 38-year-old man named Jiao, who cross-dressed to deceive straight men. He reportedly sold the private footage on Telegram.
July 5
Police in the city of Nanjing in eastern China’s Jiangsu province reported they had arrested a 38-year-old man, surnamed Jiao, for distributing explicit videos. According to Chinese media, Jiao, who has also been nicknamed ‘Uncle Red’, installed a hidden camera in his flat and filmed himself having s*x with the men he invited into his room.
July 6-10
The scandal exploded across Weibo, Douyin, and Bilibili. Memes, cosplay, parody filters, and insensitive comedy content trivialised the trauma, sparking backlash. Not only a s*x scandal, the case also became a potential public health hazard as reports of HIV-positive victims triggered public health warnings. Police urged potential victims to come forward for testing.
July 11
Authorities confirmed over 40 official complaints had been made against Sister Hong. However, the internet claims that over 100+ men fell victim to Jiao’s illegal filming and distribution of explicit videos.
July 25
A viral Weibo post from the fiancée of one of the victims, dubbed ‘Happy Leather Jacket Guy’, revealed she had ended their 3-year relationship after identifying him in one of the leaked videos. She also informed both families and is awaiting STI results.
Over the past few weeks, the case shifted public conversation toward privacy, sexual health awareness, and protections for men in digital abuse cases. Search Interest for the word Sister Hong increased globally, as people on the internet continued to make insensitive memes about this incident. The Chinese government is also continually urging men to get tested for any HIV risks if they had physical contact with Jiao.