AI Computing Power Mining Wealth Management Scam: Fake Projects and Pseudo-AI, High-Interest Promises Sweep Away Principal

Who Gets Targeted

The main victims are non-professional investors aged 30-55, especially ordinary people without AI technical or financial expertise, including some retirees and small and medium-sized business owners. Their psychological weaknesses are greed for high interest far above normal market levels (fraudsters often promise daily interest of 1%-3% and annualized returns of 30%-100%), blindly following AI technology hotspots, credulously believing so-called backing by legitimate companies, and lacking risk identification ability. They are highly susceptible to pitches such as 'guaranteed profit with no loss' and 'AI automatic mining requires no operation,' and may even take out loans or mortgage property to invest.

骗局怎么运作

• Step 1: Fraudsters impersonate legitimate AI companies such as Zhipu AI and VAST.AI, build fake investment platforms, forge qualification materials such as computing power mining machine procurement contracts and AI computing power leasing authorizations, and promote 'AI computing power mining wealth management' projects through short video platforms, social groups, offline investment briefings, and other channels. They claim that investing funds to purchase computing power shares yields fixed daily dividends, and promise annualized returns of 30%-100%, far higher than the returns of legitimate investment products such as bank wealth management and government bonds.
• Step 2: In the early stage, they give small-amount investors real withdrawals and rebates, allowing users to directly see returns arrive and eliminating their concerns, then induce them to increase investment. At the same time, they set referral commission rules, requiring users to develop downlines and paying 10%-20% commission on referred amounts, forming a pyramid-style promotion structure that rapidly expands the scale of funds involved and the scope of spread.
• Step 3: When the funds involved reach the target scale preset by the fraudsters, they use excuses such as 'system upgrade,' 'mining machine failure,' 'policy and regulatory restrictions on withdrawals,' and 'computing power scheduling takes time' to fully restrict users' withdrawal requests. Some fraudsters even directly close the platform, delete user data, ban accounts, and run away with the money, delaying or even refusing to return users' principal.
• Step 4: Some fraudsters, near the runaway stage, use pitches such as 'participating in AI computing power projects can obtain original shares,' 'future exchange for equity in legitimate AI companies,' and 'listing on exchanges soon' to induce users to invest more funds, and even encourage users to mortgage property or apply for loans to invest, further aggravating users' economic losses.
• Step 5: After running away, fraudsters may preemptively deregister the company, change identity information, transfer assets involved to overseas accounts, and even set up bases overseas to evade cross-border crackdowns by public security organs. It is extremely difficult for users to defend their rights, and the vast majority of funds involved cannot be recovered. Participants not only lose their principal but may also bear legal liability for participating in pyramid scheme activities.

红旗信号（看到这些快跑）

• 🚩 1. Promised returns far exceed normal market levels. Annualized returns above 6% require high vigilance; above 10% can almost be judged a scam. So-called 'AI mining daily interest of 1%-3%' and 'monthly return of 20%' are typical false high-interest promises.
• 🚩 2. They promote themselves in the name of legitimate AI companies but cannot provide officially sealed cooperation authorization documents. The investment platform has no license issued by a legitimate financial regulator. The platform website and app are temporarily built, frequently change domains, and customer service goes missing. The official company has not launched such investment projects.
• 🚩 3. The project operation model requires participants to develop downlines and pay referral commissions, forming a pyramid-style hierarchical promotion structure, which matches the typical characteristics of pyramid schemes. Such models are essentially Ponzi schemes that use new money to repay old debts.
• 🚩 4. In the early stage, small withdrawals are allowed and arrive normally, but when users request withdrawals after investing large amounts, they are refused under various excuses, or accounts are directly frozen and logins restricted. Users are not allowed to withdraw large amounts of principal.
• 🚩 5. Promotional pitches deliberately avoid investment risks, focusing on 'new AI technology,' 'guaranteed profit with no loss,' 'zero risk,' and 'automatic mining requires no operation.' They do not clearly disclose possible loss risks, and even encourage users to take out loans or mortgage assets to invest.

真实案例

• 1. In April 2026, the Criminal Investigation Bureau of China's Taiwan region busted the 'Bide' business school AI mining accelerator scam, arresting 12 suspects. The gang claimed to have developed an AI mining accelerator USB device; users could invest USD 1,000 to buy the device and participate in mining to receive high daily dividends. They defrauded more than 200 investors out of approximately NT$120 million in total. The main suspect was arrested on the spot at an investor briefing. Testing by a professional institution found that the advertised mining accelerator was an ordinary empty-shell USB device with no mining function. The case has been reported by Taiwan's CTS News and other media.
• 2. In August 2026, the Shenzhen public security organs formally opened an investigation into the collapse of the 'Zhongshengming Quantitative AI Wealth Management Scheme.' The platform impersonated AI quantitative trading, claiming that users could invest funds to participate in AI computing power mining wealth management and promising a monthly return of 20%. It attracted more than 110,000 members, with the amount involved estimated at over RMB 300 million. At present, the platform has fully locked positions and cannot process withdrawals, and the operator has run away with the funds. Details of the case have been reported by financial media such as Stock Information Network.
• 3. In the first half of 2026, an overseas computing power wealth management scam impersonating the U.S. company VAST.AI spread across many places in mainland China. The gang forged official VAST.AI cooperation documents, built a fake computing power investment platform, and promised that an investment of RMB 10,000 would yield a fixed daily dividend of RMB 50. They defrauded more than 500 investors out of approximately RMB 80 million in total. Users in multiple places have reported the matter to public security organs, the fake platform has been shut down, and the case has been exposed and reported by financial media such as Project Home.

Official Stance

• 1. On February 6, 2026, eight departments—the People's Bank of China, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the National Financial Regulatory Administration, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange—jointly issued the Notice on Further Preventing and Handling Risks Related to Virtual Currencies and Other Matters (Yin Fa [2026] No. 42), explicitly prohibiting illegal financial activities carried out in the name of virtual currencies, AI computing power wealth management, and other such names, and strictly prohibiting any unit or individual from engaging in illegal virtual currency issuance, financing, trading, and related business.
• 2. On August 5, 2026, the official website of the People's Bank of China issued the Risk Alert on Preventing Illegal Financial Activities Involving Virtual Currencies, clearly stating that activities that impersonate AI companies to carry out virtual currency mining, computing power wealth management, and other high-interest promises are typical illegal financial scams, and reminding investors to remain vigilant, guard against being defrauded, and avoid property losses.
• 3. In August 2026, the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued a warning on illegal securities and futures activities, naming scams such as 'AI computing power mining wealth management' and 'AI quantitative guaranteed profit with no loss' as new types of illegal securities and futures activities. It made clear that such projects have no legitimate financial qualifications, that the promised high-interest returns cannot be honored, and reminded investors to stay away from such high-risk projects.

How to Protect Yourself

• ✅ 1. Establish a correct investment philosophy, remember that 'high returns necessarily come with high risks,' reject high-interest temptation, and keep in mind the risk warning that 'returns above 6% should raise questions, above 8% are very dangerous, and above 10% may mean loss of all principal.' Do not readily believe promotional pitches such as 'AI guaranteed profit with no loss' and 'high returns with zero risk.'
• ✅ 2. Before investing, fully verify the qualifications of the project entity. You can check through the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System, the official website of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and local financial regulatory department websites whether the company has a legitimate financial license and whether it has official cooperation with a legitimate AI company. Do not readily believe forged authorization documents, false promotional materials, and so-called 'government backing.' When checking, also clearly examine shareholder background and paid-in capital, and screenshot the query results as evidence.
• ✅ 3. Do not casually download unfamiliar apps or click unfamiliar links. For investment and wealth management, choose legitimate financial institutions and official channels. Do not transfer money to unfamiliar personal accounts or overseas accounts. If you encounter projects that require developing downlines and referral commissions, refuse immediately and promptly report to public security organs.
• ✅ 4. If you find you have been scammed, preserve all relevant evidence as soon as possible, including chat records, transfer vouchers, platform screenshots, and promotional materials, and report to public security organs and financial regulatory departments immediately. Do not believe the fraudster's lies that 'continuing to invest will recover your money' or 'the platform will soon resume withdrawals,' so as to avoid further losses.