AI Emotional Counseling Lead-Generation Scam: 99-Yuan Low-Cost Diagnosis as Bait to Pressure Customers into 10,000-Yuan Packages Tier by Tier

Who Gets Targeted

The main victims are young people and middle-aged women aged 20 to 40 who have just gone through a breakup, marital crisis, or emotional conflict. They search for keywords such as emotional recovery and relationship repair late at night or in the early morning, when they are emotionally most vulnerable, at a window when their psychological defenses are lowest and they long to be understood. These people are often embarrassed to ask friends or family for help, so they pin their hopes on the mentor on the other side of the screen. They lack the awareness to verify professional certificates or screenshots of success cases, and are easily swept up in the empathetic atmosphere the other party creates. Once they pay the first 99-yuan low-cost diagnosis fee, they develop sunk-cost psychology. Under the salesperson's escalating crisis scripts, they keep increasing their spending, from packages costing a few thousand yuan all the way up to long-term services costing tens of thousands of yuan. In the end, they suffer both financial loss and secondary psychological harm.

骗局怎么运作

• Step 1: AI-driven bulk lead generation and customer acquisition. The company uses AI tools to operate multiple emotional mentor persona accounts on social platforms in bulk, posting emotional quotes, short videos of recovery cases, and image-text notes. When users search for emotional counseling keywords, platform algorithms precisely push ads to emotionally low audiences. The script is uniformly: 'Free analysis of your relationship problems, with one-on-one online answers from a mentor.'
• Step 2: 99-yuan low-cost diagnosis as bait. Frontline salespeople pose as senior emotional mentors, use templated scripts to give seemingly professional analyses of users' relationship situations, and offer vague but piercing comments such as 'Your attachment style has problems.' They then introduce the 99-yuan diagnosis service to establish a first paid relationship. According to a recruiting manager, counselors are, plainly speaking, salespeople.
• Step 3: Second-tier follow-up with AI-generated scripts. After second-tier salespeople take over, they use AI-generated empathetic scripts and crisis storylines in bulk, deliberately exaggerate the severity of users' problems, claim that if they delay any longer the relationship will be completely beyond saving, and after creating urgency, sell long-term coaching packages costing several thousand to tens of thousands of yuan. The professional mentor on the other side of the screen may well be an intern simply invoking AI replies.
• Step 4: Third-tier high-ticket pressure closing and harvesting. Users with strong willingness to pay are transferred to third-tier sales to handle so-called complex cases, with quotes reaching tens of thousands of yuan. They promise expert supervision and privately customized recovery plans, and may even funnel users to offline high-priced healing camps or closed emotional repair courses. The actual deliverables are mostly generic course recordings and mass-sent scripts.
• Step 5: Delay and attrition, then responsibility shifting. After the service period begins, they delay delivery through check-in assignments, mood journals, and other methods. When users question the results, they blame the user for insufficient follow-through or for not adjusting their mindset. Refunds are refused on the grounds that the contract has been received and the service has begun. Some companies frequently change their entity names and payment collection accounts to evade complaints and accountability.

红旗信号（看到这些快跑）

• 🚩 Claims of a 24-hour online emotional mentor who replies instantly, while different users receive highly similar analysis scripts, suggesting AI-generated bulk content or copied templates.
• 🚩 Uses 99-yuan or 9.9-yuan low-cost diagnosis as an entry point, then quickly escalates to selling long-term packages costing thousands to tens of thousands of yuan—a typical low-price lead generation and high-price pressure sales structure.
• 🚩 Job postings for emotional counselor positions do not require psychology qualifications or practice certificates, only sales ability. Before paying, you can reverse-check the company's recruitment information.
• 🚩 Refuses to provide verifiable counselor practice qualifications, such as nationally recognized psychological counselor training certificates or psychiatrist practice information.
• 🚩 Uses crisis language to pressure sales, such as a final 24-hour discount price or 'if you delay any longer it will be irreparable,' and discourages users from discussing with family or thinking calmly.
• 🚩 Payment collection accounts are personal or belong to a company entity inconsistent with the advertised brand; contract terms are vague and exclude refund liability.

真实案例

• In September 2026, Guangming Online reported that a young woman in Chengdu, referred to as Min (pseudonym), felt depressed after breaking up with her boyfriend. After searching for emotional counseling on a social platform, she was matched with someone claiming to be a senior emotional mentor. The other party's analysis sounded very convincing, but after several conversations, she—working in the internet advertising industry—suspected that an AI program on the other side of the screen was responding according to a script.
• In September 2026, China Youth Net reported that a reporter applied as a job seeker for an emotional counselor position at an emotional counseling company in Guangzhou. The recruiting manager said bluntly that counselors are, plainly speaking, salespeople. The position has three tiers: frontline lead generation selling 99-yuan low-cost diagnoses, second-tier selling packages costing thousands to tens of thousands of yuan, and third-tier handling high-priced complex cases. The position does not require psychology qualifications.
• In 2026, multiple media outlets reported that the industry has formed a complete assembly line: AI-driven bulk customer acquisition, persona accounts to attract followers, and tiered scripts for pressure selling are all linked together. Many users, during emotional low points, are induced to spend thousands to tens of thousands of yuan and receive only generic courses and AI-generated scripted replies, causing secondary psychological harm.

Official Stance

• Reports published in September 2026 cited regulatory developments: continuous emotional interaction AI and tool-type AI will be managed separately, and sensitive interactions must not be carried out without users' separate consent. The relevant rules were included in discussions in July 2026.
• Starting September 1, 2026, China's first national standard focusing on the collaboration mechanism between human and intelligent customer service, 'Customer Contact Service—Collaboration Between Human and Intelligent Customer Service,' officially took effect. Data from the China Consumers Association show that in the first half of 2026, consumer associations nationwide accepted 986,000 complaints, with false promises by AI customer service and difficulty reaching human agents becoming new complaint hotspots.
• New AI regulations disclosed by the media in 2026 have drawn red lines for AI emotional companionship and emotional counseling applications, halted some AI virtual lover products aimed at minors, and required emotional interaction services to clearly disclose their AI identity.

How to Protect Yourself

• ✅ Verify qualifications before paying: ask the other party to present verifiable psychological counselor training certificates or psychiatric/psychotherapy practice qualifications, and check the company entity and complaint records on the China Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System. At the same time, verify the medical institution's practice filing on the National Health Commission official website, and search the entity's complaint volume on the 12315 platform. Directly rule out any entity with repeated complaints and difficulty obtaining refunds.
• ✅ Be wary of low-price entry points: any service that uses a 9.9-yuan to 99-yuan diagnosis as a lead-generation entry and then quickly escalates to quotes of several thousand yuan or more should be treated by default as a sales assembly line. Wait and think calmly for 72 hours before deciding.
• ✅ For psychological crises, seek formal channels first: if you are severely emotionally distressed or have thoughts of self-harm, call the national unified psychological assistance hotline or go to the psychiatry or clinical psychology department of a public hospital. Do not entrust crisis intervention to commercial hotlines of unknown origin.
• ✅ Keep evidence and complain promptly: save chat records, transfer receipts, contracts, and screenshots of advertising pages. If you find that you were induced to spend, you can complain to 12315 or report to the public security authorities. If AI impersonated a real person, you can also report it to the cyberspace administration.
• ✅ Share decisions with family and friends: before making a large payment, force yourself to communicate with a trusted relative or friend. The core of scam scripts is to isolate the victim's social support system.