AI Customer Service Outsourcing Scam: Collecting Hefty Service Fees and Disappearing

Who Gets Targeted

Victims are mostly small and medium-sized enterprise owners, startup teams, and individuals who want to use low-cost AI customer service to improve business efficiency, lacking technical judgment, and easily swayed by promotional scripts such as earning 30,000 yuan a month with zero investment. The criminal gang first attracts traffic through free demonstrations and low-cost training, repeatedly charges fees under the pretext of system upgrades and API call fees after collecting payments, and finally directly shuts down the server side, disconnects the network, and loses contact. Typical losses are prepaid training fees and service fees, such as in the 'Zhiliao Remote' case where a victim paid 200,000 yuan in training fees without getting backend access, with over 300 victimized micro and small enterprise owners.

骗局怎么运作

• Through social media, short videos, offline gatherings, and other channels, the fraud gang publishes high-return cases promising that 'AI customer service can help you earn 30,000 yuan a month with zero investment', building a sense of trust with the help of false cases and word-of-mouth.
• Lures victims to register and try free demonstrations, while providing 'low-cost training' or 'rapid access solutions', and explaining in advance that only a small consultation fee is required to enter high-end services.
• After the victim proceeds to make payments, the operators demand continued payments for paid services (such as full-month platform fees, API call fees, or additional training fees) under the grounds of technical failures, system upgrades, etc., without providing detailed usage metrics, reports, or other transparent data.
• After the service reaches the agreed 'output sharing' stage, the operators suddenly shut down the server side and disconnect the network, customer service scripts fail, and victims are left stuck with hundreds of yuan in shutdown fees.
• After victims find abnormal accounts and no one responding to customer service, the fraud team continues to collect payments and take away assets through handovers, anonymous accounts, and other methods; some gangs use high-frequency phone scripts, capable of rushing through thousands of calls daily to swindle large lump-sum fees.

红旗信号（看到这些快跑）

• 🚩 Promised returns are significantly higher than the industry average, with no verifiable operational data or cases made public.
• 🚩 The 'free trial' account provided by the platform opens up extremely free functions, and requires a large advance payment immediately upon registration.
• 🚩 Multiple people use the same IP or account for batch phone calls/instant messaging, with abnormal account suspensions occurring later on.
• 🚩 Lack of official filings or trademark registration information, with all contact information being non-real-name phone numbers or WeChat IDs.
• 🚩 Failure to provide SLAs or past rights protection proofs during customer service failures or technical upgrades.

真实案例

• Person A registered the company 'Zhiliao Remote', paid 200,000 yuan in training fees but did not receive AI customer service backend access, which was later found to be a runaway gang. A total of more than 300 micro and small enterprise owners were victimized.
• Person B paid 50,000 yuan in tuition fees at an 'AI livestream e-commerce' training class, and only collected a few hundred yuan in commissions after graduation, failing to reach the promised profits. Several trainees exposed this in the BJD column, involving over 200 people in the case.
• Person C used the name of the 'VAST.AI' platform, paid 30,000 yuan in advance, and found that the system was shut down and application interfaces were disabled. Audit reports showed that the platform was operated by an overseas fraud gang, involving more than 100 victimized enterprises.

Official Stance

• State Administration for Market Regulation reported risks in the AI customer service outsourcing industry
• CCTV News reported warnings on new AI customer service scams
• Cybersecurity police departments of public security organs released notifications on AI human customer service fraud cases

How to Protect Yourself

• ✅ Verify whether the operating company has been registered in industrial and commercial registration and tax systems, or check qualifications in platform filing lists (such as industrial and commercial WeChat or industrial and commercial websites).
• ✅ Sign a written contract detailing service terms, fee structures, revenue-sharing ratios, and dispute resolution mechanisms, and require statutory filing.
• ✅ Conduct a small-scale trial or installment payment first, strictly monitor platform metrics and reports, and only pay the full fee after confirming actual performance.
• ✅ Use third-party consumer protection platforms or legal services, retain all communication records and payment vouchers, and report to cyber police or the municipal public security bureau immediately upon discovering abnormalities.