AI Automated Customs Clearance and Tax Refund Scam: Posing as smart filing, fraudsters abscond after collecting high advance payments and forging customs documents

Who Gets Targeted

The victims are mostly small and medium-sized cross-border e-commerce sellers, foreign trade company salespersons, or startup foreign trade teams. They typically lack dedicated customs and tax personnel, are unfamiliar with export tax rebate procedures, easily experience fear in the face of news about tightening regulations, and are eager to find easy yet compliant shortcuts. Fraudsters exploit these sellers' desire to save clearance costs and avoid delayed tax rebates, using pitches such as AI automation, system integration with customs, and real-time tax rebates to create a sense of professionalism, causing victims to pay high advance payments without verifying qualifications, only to discover afterward that the clearance documents and tax rebate progress were forged.

骗局怎么运作

• Publish advertisements in cross-border seller communities, short video platforms, or instant messaging groups, claiming that the system can connect to the Customs Single Window and tax systems, using AI to automatically complete product classification, customs declaration generation, and tax rebate filing, while claiming to increase pass rates and shorten tax rebate cycles.
• Sales personnel use professional pitches to ask sellers about their export categories, destination countries, and past delayed tax rebate experiences, then send seemingly official system demonstration videos or interface screenshots to create the illusion of strong technical capability, claiming that many peers are already using it.
• Demand advance payments ranging from several thousand to tens of thousands of yuan under the guise of system deployment fees, data integration fees, first-month clearance service fees, or tax rebate upfront security deposits, while promising subsequent billing per ticket or profit-sharing after tax rebates arrive.
• After receiving payment, request cargo information, invoices, and customs declaration materials from the seller, then send back forged customs declarations, release notices, or tax acceptance receipts, and even use photo editing software to create screenshots with customs numbers, making the seller mistakenly believe that customs clearance and tax rebates have entered the process.
• When sellers follow up on the tax rebate arrival time or system login permissions, the other party delays using excuses such as stricter customs reviews, tax system upgrades, or supplementary materials, and eventually loses contact or disbands the chat group. Sellers verify with customs or tax departments only to find that the documents were forged.

红旗信号（看到这些快跑）

• 🚩 Demanding high advance payments for system deployment or services upfront, while refusing to provide verifiable corporate entities, office addresses, or historical client cases.
• 🚩 Claiming that the AI system can automatically connect to customs and tax systems, but failing to provide official API authorization documents or loginable system accounts, sending only screenshots and screen recordings.
• 🚩 Customs numbers, company names, or date formats on clearance documents clearly do not match official templates, or the corresponding declaration records cannot be queried on the official customs website.
• 🚩 Repeatedly demanding additional security deposits or expedited fees under the pretext of stuck tax rebates or strict customs audits, while never providing specific review progress or verifiable processing transaction numbers.
• 🚩 Sales personnel use newly registered accounts in communities, frequently changing groups and contact methods, and collection accounts are personal accounts or third-party accounts inconsistent with the company name.

真实案例

• In early 2026, Shenzhen tax and customs authorities jointly investigated an export tax fraud case where the involved enterprise defrauded export tax rebates through buying single matching bills, ultimately facing recovered taxes, fines, and late fees totaling approximately 90 million yuan. In this case, multiple business owners reported paying high service fees to so-called customs clearance service providers without obtaining real customs declaration records. (Source: [https://www.ennews.com/article-31853-1.html](https://www.ennews.com/article-31853-1.html))
• In February 2026, Tencent News exposed three foreign trade export enterprises engaged in shell-company proxy exports and full-chain tax fraud. Related individuals defrauded tax rebates by fabricating goods exports and forging customs clearance documents, and were investigated by tax inspection authorities. In the case, some sellers were charged service fees by intermediaries under the guise of fast tax rebates, and were ultimately required to pay back taxes due to inaccurate documents. (Source: [https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20260227A06ID700](https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20260227A06ID700))
• In March 2026, a court in Beijing made public a cross-border telecom fraud case where a criminal syndicate disguised itself as professional rights-protection lawyers or customs clearance service providers, defrauding fees under the pretext of helping sellers recover stuck tax rebates and handle customs clearance anomalies, affecting a total of 399 people. The case shows that fraudsters often impersonate officials, exploiting sellers' unfamiliarity with customs clearance and tax rebate procedures to carry out chain scams. (Source: [https://news.bjd.com.cn/2026/03/27/11654727.shtml](https://news.bjd.com.cn/2026/03/27/11654727.shtml))

Official Stance

• On February 27, 2026, the Tianjin Municipal Tax Service of the State Administration of Taxation issued a notice reminding taxpayers to be aware of the risk of false documents in export tax rebate filings, emphasizing that tax rebate filings should be based on real trade backgrounds and legal credentials.
• In early 2026, Hugo Cross-border reported that strict export tax rebate investigations were upgrading, with tax authorities in multiple regions launching special rectifications against buying single matching bills and fraudulent customs clearance, advising cross-border sellers not to easily trust so-called guaranteed tax rebate or fast customs clearance services.
• In March 2026, Beijing Daily reported that cross-border telecom fraud syndicates disguised themselves as professional rights-protection lawyers to commit fraud, and Beijing police advised sellers that in customs clearance and tax rebate disputes, they should protect their rights through formal legal channels and not pay high fees to unidentified personnel.

How to Protect Yourself

• ✅ Verify service provider entity information by requesting business licenses, customs declaration enterprise registration certificates, or tax agent firm qualifications, and log into the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System or official customs website to compare authenticity, while simultaneously verifying shareholder backgrounds and the validity period of customs declaration qualifications.
• ✅ Refuse to transfer money to personal accounts before payment, demand corporate account payments and regular invoices, and remain vigilant if the collection account does not match the company name.
• ✅ For systems claiming AI-automated customs clearance and tax rebates, demand a loginable demo account or on-site demonstration from the other party, and check customs API authorization documents rather than paying based solely on screenshots and screen recordings.
• ✅ Independently verify customs clearance documents and tax rebate filing progress with the Customs 12360 hotline or local tax bureau, relying on official query results and not easily trusting so-called internal system screenshots provided by service providers.