Fake Blockchain Gaming AI Auto-Farming Escrow Scheme: Claiming Guaranteed Dividends Through Automated AI Grinding

Who Gets Targeted

Victims are primarily young males and office workers aged 20 to 40 who have had exposure to cryptocurrency or blockchain gaming, alongside university students and homemakers lured by the pitch of 'passive income.' While generally familiar with concepts like NFTs and blockchain games, they lack the ability to verify project authenticity. Inspired by news of mainstream games like FIFA Rivals, they fall under the illusion of 'major platform endorsement.' Their psychological vulnerabilities include a fear of missing out on the dual tailwinds of AI and Web3 combined with the greed for a get-rich-quick model requiring no time investment. Highly susceptible to industry jargon like 'official partnership' and 'smart contract auto-settlement,' they are easily driven to make heavy investments by profit screenshots posted by shills in chat groups.

骗局怎么运作

• Step 1: Traffic generation via borrowed fame. Syndicates run ads on short-video platforms, forums, and Telegram groups, claiming partnerships with renowned gaming developers like Mythical Games to launch 'AI smart farming bots.' They falsely claim that AI can automatically farm rare assets in games like FIFA Rivals and sell them at high prices, using the pitch: 'Endorsed by mainstream blockchain gaming platforms; AI grinds 24/7 on your behalf.'
• Step 2: Building fake platforms. Victims are lured into clicking phishing websites or downloading counterfeit apps. The interface mimics standard blockchain gaming asset markets, displaying fictitious NFT player card inventories and real-time price curves. In reality, all data is backend-controlled and entirely detached from real blockchains, using the pitch: 'Assets are on-chain and traceable; smart contracts settle automatically.'
• Step 3: Luring victims with small returns. After initial deposits ranging from hundreds to thousands of yuan, the system automatically distributes daily AI farming dividends and permits small withdrawals to give victims a taste of success. Customer service then pressures them to increase investments by claiming they can 'upgrade VIP computing power nodes to double their returns.'
• Step 4: Locking positions and harvesting. Once a single deposit reaches tens of thousands of yuan, the platform abruptly freezes withdrawals under pretexts such as 'on-chain congestion' or 'game developers adjusting the economic system leading to asset depreciation,' shifting the blame onto market conditions while concealing the fact that no actual blockchain assets were ever purchased.
• Step 5: Shutdown and escape. Upon completing the harvest, the syndicate shuts down the website, disbands chat groups, and reopens under a new platform name. Some syndicates even target previous victims with secondary scams under the guise of 'asset liquidation compensation,' claiming that paying another fee will refund their principal.

红旗信号（看到这些快跑）

• 🚩 Claims official partnerships with well-known gaming developers like Mythical Games, yet the official website and partnership announcements show no record of such projects, with authorization proof visible only through links provided by the other party.
• 🚩 Promises automated AI farming with guaranteed profits, offering fixed daily or monthly returns. Any promise of capital preservation or guaranteed returns on digital assets violates the basic common sense that asset prices fluctuate with supply and demand.
• 🚩 Deposit collection accounts consist of personal bank accounts or unfamiliar cryptocurrency addresses rather than official platform channels, requiring customer service communication via overseas software like Telegram.
• 🚩 Asset market pages within the platform cannot be cross-verified with on-chain explorer data, and the claimed NFT assets lack queryable, authentic contract addresses.
• 🚩 Withdrawals require upfront payments for deposits or unfreezing fees, or reaching higher tiers, while chat groups are flooded with shills featuring identical profile pictures and templated success stories.

真实案例

• In May 2026, Shanghai police cracked down on a financial fraud case disguised as AI quantitative trading, where a syndicate lured investors with guarantees of steady algorithmic profits before absconding with funds. According to Toutiao reports, this represents a typical case of 2026 AI skin-changed financial fraud, highly homologous in methodology to AI farming escrow schemes.
• In April 2026, The Paper's湃客 column reported that AI scams had completed an industrial upgrade, iterating from course-selling to token pyramid schemes. Simultaneously, the Ministry of State Security issued a warning regarding security risks amid the token craze, exposing the tactics of criminals fabricating tokens and AI computing power concepts to manufacture fake financial projects. (Source: [https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_32918782](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_32918782))
• In May 2026, according to a Zhihu column citing on-chain tracking data, a syndicate utilized official AI token staking with a 30% annualized return as bait to execute staking fraud. Involving massive on-chain funds, the victim was a 35-year-old white-collar worker who, accustomed to using AI for daily office work, fell prey to the pitch of official computing power dividends, resulting in a complete harvest within just seven days of engagement.
• In June 2026, Sina Finance's 'Case Study on Risk' column reported that illegal financial activities were infiltrating campuses: some students lent out their bank cards, reducing themselves to 'telecom fraud assistance' tools. A sophomore student earned only 3,800 yuan in commissions while their bank cards processed a staggering 322,600 yuan in illicit transaction volume, subjecting them to criminal coercive measures. Additionally, a junior student at a university in Suzhou trusted a 'zero-collateral, instant-approval campus loan,' receiving only 3,000 yuan in hand while compounding interest pushed liabilities past 20,000 yuan in just two months. All cases cited herein are genuine instances publicly reported by public security authorities across China in 2026. (Source: [https://finance.sina.com.cn/trust/2026-06-18/doc-inicvmmp6537137.shtml](https://finance.sina.com.cn/trust/2026-06-18/doc-inicvmmp6537137.shtml))
• In March 2024, the People's Procuratorate of Shangzhou District, Shangluo City, prosecuted a pyramid scheme organized and led via telecommunications networks: main suspects Han and Ma created the 'Meta Farm Manor' blockchain game, requiring participants to deposit virtual currency for membership eligibility and rewarding them based on recruited downlines. The scheme reached 15 tiers with 45 direct or indirect downlines, accumulating a total investment of 1,015,500 USDT (approximately 6,956,704.65 RMB). (Source: [https://m.sohu.com/a/766318602_592068/](https://m.sohu.com/a/766318602_592068/))
• In April 2025, the Intermediate People's Court of Ezhou City, Hubei Province, concluded trials for two virtual currency online fraud cases involving nearly 30,000 victims lured into 'investing' by main suspect Cheng and associates via forged candlestick charts on the Orbit platform, totaling 460 million RMB in involved funds. Profitable customers were blocked from withdrawing via account locking and direct bans, and 34 defendants were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from three to twelve years in accordance with the law. (Source: [http://www.chinapeace.gov.cn/chinapeace/c100053/2025-04/09/content_12777736.shtml](http://www.chinapeace.gov.cn/chinapeace/c100053/2025-04/09/content_12777736.shtml))

Official Stance

• In April 2026, the Ministry of State Security issued an advisory regarding security risks amid the token craze, pointing out that criminals exploit token hype by fabricating concepts to commit fraud, reminding the public to remain vigilant against financial traps packaged in AI concepts.
• On August 26, 2026, CCTV reported on the chaos surrounding illegal online stock recommendations and investment advisory services. Police in Yueqing, Zhejiang, cracked down on an illegal securities investment advisory operation, and the Shenzhen Securities Regulatory Bureau issued risk warnings tied to typical cases, cautioning against funneling traffic through AI quantitative trading and free training.
• In June 2026, during the Illegal Finance Prevention Publicity Month, channels like Sina Finance republished official risk-warning case studies, cautioning that illegal financial activities under the guise of gaming rebates and virtual asset appreciation are spreading toward youth demographics.
• On April 20, 2026, local government anti-fraud columns reported recent real-world cases of telecom fraud, noting that AI face-swapping, fake investment management, and gaming fraud continue to run high, urging the public to verify platform credentials through official channels.

How to Protect Yourself

• ✅ Verify partnership authenticity: For any project claiming partnerships with developers like Mythical Games, always check the announcement boards and official social media accounts of the official website, and do not blindly trust unilaterally provided authorization screenshots.
• ✅ On-chain cross-verification: Request the other party to provide authentic smart contract addresses and query public on-chain explorers to verify whether assets truly exist and if transaction records match platform displays. Unverifiable projects must be treated as scams.
• ✅ Reject guaranteed returns: Mainstream blockchain games adopt a Play-to-Own model where developers never promise asset appreciation or returns. Blacklist any project promoting guaranteed profits, fixed returns, or automated AI dividends immediately.
• ✅ Control fund exits: Never transfer funds to personal accounts or unfamiliar on-chain addresses, and avoid platforms requiring upfront margin payments before withdrawal. Query platform risk records via the National Anti-Fraud Center App before depositing.
• ✅ Preserve evidence and report promptly: Upon discovering withdrawal failures, immediately save deposit records, chat screenshots, and platform URLs. Report to public security authorities at the earliest opportunity and submit complaints via the National Anti-Fraud Center App and Cyberspace Administration reporting channels.