AI Short-Video Reposting Overseas E-commerce Scam: Luring Franchise Fees with False Exorbitant-Profit Promises, Then Absconding with Funds

Who Gets Targeted

The victims are mainly stay-at-home mothers in third- and fourth-tier cities, veterans, wage earners looking for side businesses, and owners of small and micro start-ups. They have a significant information gap regarding cross-border e-commerce and AI technology and long to achieve upward mobility through low-cost passive income. Their psychological weakness lies in the illusion that they can manipulate the platform; they are deeply brainwashed by the fabricated prosperity and fake back-end data. Small favors in the early stage can build trust, and later the sunk-cost fallacy leads to repeated secondary harvesting.

骗局怎么运作

• Traffic-bait setup: Post a large number of fake get-rich-quick screenshots featuring luxury cars, mansions, and earning over 10,000 a day on short-video platforms, supplemented by highly inflammatory pitches such as AI one-click reposting of overseas videos and mindless batch editing for 100,000 yuan a month. By creating information-gap anxiety, they attract lower-tier users eager to make money to voluntarily leave their details for consultation, then funnel them to private-domain communities for further brainwashing.
• Forged back-end data: After victims join the group, mentors show forged screenshots of overseas platform store back-end earnings, claiming that paying a franchise fee of nearly 10,000 yuan is all it takes to get fully automated agency operations. Mechanically, they often use illegally purchased fake accounts or internal group-control software to generate fake views and conversion data, using survivorship bias to create the illusion that everyone is making money.
• Serial fee traps: The initial franchise fee is only an entry point. After victims pay, the organization demands a second payment under the names of opening dedicated network lines, purchasing high-weight overseas nodes, or upgrading fully automated sales software. If they do not pay, the store immediately stops operating; if they do pay, they fall into a bottomless pit, with single fees ranging from several thousand to tens of thousands of yuan, constantly draining victims' savings.
• Fattening up and withdrawal restrictions: For victims running stores, in the first few months the scammers use fake orders to make the store data look good and induce additional investment. When victims try to withdraw, the back end restricts withdrawals on the grounds that illegal operations caused the platform to freeze the account and that deposits or unfreezing fees must be paid. Early investments have already become sunk costs, and victims continue to transfer money under the psychological suggestion that just a little more payment will let them get everything back.
• Harvesting and fleeing: When the organization judges that the victim's value has been squeezed dry or the current stage of harvesting is complete, it disappears by deregistering shell companies, dissolving WeChat groups, and abandoning the office. Some leading service providers even abscond directly with nearly 10 million or even over 100 million yuan. Victims have no way to defend their rights, left only with fake stores that cannot withdraw funds and a pile of worthless reposted videos.

红旗信号（看到这些快跑）

• 🚩 Claiming zero-basis beginners, mindless reposting, and fully automatic passive income, while deliberately concealing the real risks and technical thresholds of cross-border trade and platform operations.
• 🚩 Promising guaranteed returns or guaranteed order volumes and requiring a one-time payment of high franchise fees, training fees, or system usage fees all are suspected of being illegal or non-compliant.
• 🚩 Refusing to provide a genuine corporate account, accepting payments to private accounts or frequently changing the name of the receiving merchant, and refusing to sign a legally binding agency-operation return contract.
• 🚩 Encountering obstruction of various kinds when withdrawing funds, such as demands to pay unfreezing fees, deposits, or taxes; legitimate cross-border e-commerce platforms will never ask sellers for such fees.
• 🚩 The company was registered very recently, its office address changes frequently or cannot be inspected on site at all, its business personnel turnover is high, and it refuses to verify their real identities.

真实案例

• In March 2026, CNR reported that multiple victims came into contact with so-called automated sales training through short-video ads and paid nearly 10,000 yuan in tuition to a cross-border service provider. The other party promised fully automatic editing, reposting, and publishing on overseas platforms, but after several months the victims earned back only just over 100 yuan in commissions. The organization then used the excuse of platform account bans to stall, and the relevant background shows this to be a typical fake-training disorder. (Source: https://www.cnr.cn/newscenter/dj/20260315/t20260315_527552140.shtml)
• According to exposures by Chuhaiwang and Seller Navigation in 2026, an institution claiming to be Shenzhen's No. 1 overseas platform service provider collapsed, involving thousands of stores being banned overnight and leaving IOUs as high as 30 million. Victims reported that the institution collected high service fees under the guise of agency operations and then absconded directly with the funds. Those involved are currently under investigation by police in multiple places. (Source: https://www.chwang.com/article/208782538290)
• In August 2026, China News Service followed up with a report that a livestreaming sales project was found to involve a three-level pyramid scheme criminal chain. Police in a certain place disclosed that an agency operations company, under the name of using short videos to attract traffic and open stores, amassed money wildly by restricting withdrawals and requiring secondary top-ups, with more than 10 million yuan involved. One female victim lost nearly 200,000 yuan in savings. (Source: http://www.chinanews.com.cn/sh/2026/08-11/10675694.shtml)

Official Stance

• On March 15, 2026, Beijing Daily, CNR, and other central media jointly published an investigative report exposing underground gray industries using the AI concept to harvest lower-tier markets and reminding the public to beware of passive-income traps.
• On August 11, 2026, China Youth Net published an article reporting related cases. Public security authorities have intervened to investigate a suspected pyramid scheme criminal chain and warned that this agency-operation model has obvious Ponzi characteristics.
• On August 12, 2026, Guangming Online published a special report. Relevant departments of the State Administration for Market Regulation, together with police in multiple places, summoned and interviewed several non-compliant shell service providers, calling on the public to choose legitimate e-commerce platforms.

How to Protect Yourself

• ✅ Verify the agency operations company's real registration information, operating status, and litigation records through the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System. If it has been established for less than one year or is a shell company that frequently changes information, do not trust it lightly; also check shareholder contributions and the list of abnormal operations.
• ✅ Firmly refuse any request to transfer money to a private account. All cooperation payments must be remitted to the corporate account specified in the contract, and a formal invoice must be required, so that the fund flow is documented and traceable.
• ✅ Before formally paying, conduct an on-site inspection of its office premises and the size of its operations team. Require an on-site view of the real operations back end rather than a simulator demonstration, and spot-check the real order data of several real stores that are actually selling.
• ✅ Carefully review the contract terms and refuse to sign contracts containing overbearing clauses such as final interpretation rights belonging to the company or exemption from liability for platform rule changes. Be especially wary of splitting agency-operation fees into training fees, software fees, and other items that are not protected by refund rights.