AI Emotional Companion Pig-Butchering Scam: Impostor Lovers Defrauding Victims of Huge Investments

Who Gets Targeted

Primary victims include single youths aged 25 to 45, workplace newcomers, and middle-aged divorcees experiencing emotional deficits. Most live in urban areas and are accustomed to meeting strangers late at night via dating apps, matchmaking websites, and social platforms. Being in emotional vulnerabilities, victims are easily swayed by AI-generated sweet talk, fabricated lifestyle photos, and 'successful entrepreneur' personas. Driven by trust and wishful thinking regarding intimate relationships, they lower their identity verification guard when the perpetrators pitch high-yield investments or virtual currency wealth management. According to statistics from the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the National Police Agency, Ministry of the Interior, 7,688 males fell victim to 'fake romance dating' scams in 2025 (R.O.C. year 114), ranking fourth among the top 10 scam methods, with single-case losses reaching hundreds of thousands of dollars (National Police Agency, Ministry of the Interior announcement dated 2026-07-31).

骗局怎么运作

• Step 1: Use AI chat bots or face-swapping videos on dating apps to publish attractive and gentle fake personal profiles, proactively sending approach messages to target users, heavily utilizing emotional resonance vocabulary and matching fake lifestyle photos to build credibility.
• Step 2: During the chat, based on the victim's interests and emotional needs, the AI gradually deepens emotional communication, builds trust within days, and opportunely hints at 'starting a business' or 'having high-yield investment opportunities', creating a sense of urgency for funds.
• Step 3: Utilizing forged bank transfer screenshots and AI-generated wealth management product pages, display so-called return proofs to the victim, requesting a small trial transfer first and asking for larger amounts upon success.
• Step 4: Once the victim transfers money, the scammers immediately switch to multiple AI accounts to continue maintaining the emotional bond, demanding continuous fund additions under various pretexts such as 'project expansion' or 'unfreezing frozen funds', and continuously reinforcing the 'high return' illusion through chat history screenshots.
• Step 5: After the victim makes large-scale transfers, the scam syndicate rapidly switches IPs and channels to transfer the funds out through overseas money laundering channels. Once discovered, the victims often find it difficult to trace, and the scammers subsequently disappear or change identities to continue committing crimes.

红旗信号（看到这些快跑）

• 🚩 The other party is overly eager to propose financial investments or demand transfers, consistently using high returns as bait.
• 🚩 The chat content contains a large amount of AI-generated exaggerated praise and emotionally scripted language, lacking real-life details.
• 🚩 The provided financial or project screenshots cannot be queried on regular platforms, or the domain name and QR code do not match official ones.
• 🚩 The other party frequently changes contact information or uses virtual numbers and frequently switches social media accounts.
• 🚩 They claim to be an 'overseas investor' or have a 'Hong Kong background', but cannot provide valid identity verification materials.

真实案例

• In June 2024, Shanghai police cracked a major online romance scam case, arresting 50 suspects with involved amounts exceeding 30 million yuan. Victims believed the other party was an overseas investor and transferred money multiple times. (Source: [https://www.sina.cn/news/detail/5328552115307944.html](https://www.sina.cn/news/detail/5328552115307944.html))
• In November 2023, a woman in Shenzhen was defrauded of 2 million yuan on a dating app by a 'lover' claiming a Hong Kong background, ultimately leading to bankruptcy due to a broken capital chain, with the case involving over 200 victims.
• In February 2024, a woman in Zhejiang used AI face-swapping technology to play multiple roles such as a mother and a close friend, defrauding a male netizen of 450,000 yuan before being arrested and criminally detained by the police. (Source: [https://www.163.com/dy/article/L362JHKU051492LM.html](https://www.163.com/dy/article/L362JHKU051492LM.html))

Official Stance

• National Financial Regulatory Administration, 2023-10-13, issued the 'Risk Warning on Guarding Against Fraud Using New AI Technologies' (Source: [https://www.nfra.gov.cn/cn/view/pages/ItemDetail.html?docId=1142024&itemId=915&generaltype=0](https://www.nfra.gov.cn/cn/view/pages/ItemDetail.html?docId=1142024&itemId=915&generaltype=0))
• Consumer Protection Bureau of the National Financial Regulatory Administration, 2024-07-25, issued the 'Risk Warning on Preventing New Telecom Network Fraud' (Source: [https://www.gov.cn/lianbo/bumen/202407/content_6964352.htm](https://www.gov.cn/lianbo/bumen/202407/content_6964352.htm))

How to Protect Yourself

• ✅ On dating platforms, when the other party proactively proposes financial transactions or investments, be sure to verify their true identity first and avoid transferring money alone.
• ✅ Use formal channels to verify the financial product information provided by the other party, such as checking in the official bank app or calling the official customer service hotline.
• ✅ Remain vigilant against AI-synthesized voices or videos appearing in chat history, and verify authenticity through reverse image search or voice comparison tools.
• ✅ When encountering emergency money requests, seek help from family and friends or report to the police promptly, and do not make impulsive decisions to transfer money alone.
• ✅ Regularly update the security settings of social accounts, enable two-factor authentication, and prevent accounts from being impersonated for fraud.