Shanghai Scam Case: Fake Alumni Use AI-Generated Exam Papers to Defraud Students, Targeting 8 Million RMB Annual KPI

Who Gets Targeted

The victims are primarily Chinese students studying at overseas universities. Most face high pressure from final exams and academic anxiety due to language barriers, creating a strong psychological need for shortcuts to achieve high grades. While international students often have high spending power, their distance from home and lack of direct support networks from professors or peers make them more susceptible to trusting 'helpful' senior students in online social groups, leading them to fall for information asymmetry and herd mentality when offered 'insider' exam papers and grade-fixing services.

骗局怎么运作

• Scammers search social platforms for student groups at major overseas universities, posing as alumni or senior students from the same school. They initiate private chats under the guise of offering help with course selection or sharing study tips, extracting key information such as the victim's major, course schedule, and upcoming exam dates to build trust and gather intelligence for targeted fraud.
• Once the exam subjects are identified, scammers use AI tools like LLMs to generate highly realistic 'insider' exam papers and exclusive 'prediction' sets based on public syllabi, past papers, and lecture notes. They falsely claim these are top-secret materials obtained at a high cost through university professors or teaching assistants.
• The scam rings time their sales to the high-anxiety period one to two weeks before finals. Exploiting students' fear of failing or desire for high grades, they market the materials as a cheap, guaranteed way to pass or excel. Materials generated by AI in minutes are sold for thousands to tens of thousands of RMB, often using tiered pricing based on the desired grade.
• When students find the materials useless or inquire after receiving poor exam results, the scammers deploy follow-up scripts, claiming they can 'fix' grades or guarantee a pass on retakes for an additional fee. This leads to secondary or multiple transfers intended to drain the victim's finances. Once the victim realizes the scam or refuses to pay, they are blocked and deleted.
• The scam ring operates like a corporation, assigning each member an annual KPI of 8 million RMB. They provide specialized training materials on scripts, AI tool usage, and psychological manipulation. By using generative AI to drastically reduce the cost and technical barrier of creating high-quality fake exams, they conduct large-scale harvesting through wide-net targeting, eventually being dismantled by Shanghai police.

红旗信号（看到这些快跑）

• 🚩 Self-proclaimed alumni who are overly eager to shift the conversation from casual chat to upcoming exams and the purchase of study materials.
• 🚩 Exam papers that appear professional at first glance but reveal typical traces of generative AI upon closer inspection, such as a lack of the professor's unique writing style, repetitive logic between questions, or overly generic and vague answers.
• 🚩 Refusal to communicate via official university email addresses or provide student identification, insisting on private transactions via unverified social media accounts or second-hand trading platforms.
• 🚩 Promises of 'guaranteed passes,' 'guaranteed grades,' or 'grade changes'—actions strictly prohibited by university academic integrity policies, used here to manufacture a sense of scarcity and exploit student anxiety.
• 🚩 Payment methods requiring transfers to overseas private accounts or the use of untraceable cryptocurrencies to evade financial oversight, coupled with a refusal to sign any formal service contracts.

真实案例

• According to a report by Shanghai police on March 23, 2026, authorities successfully dismantled a scam ring targeting international students. The group posed as overseas alumni and sold AI-generated 'insider' exam papers. With an annual KPI of 8 million RMB, 23 suspects were arrested on-site, and multiple scam hubs were destroyed.
• As disclosed by CCTV's 'Rule of Law Online' program, a student (Student A) suffering from exam anxiety was contacted by someone claiming to be a senior from their school. After purchasing AI-generated 'insider' materials and receiving poor grades, the scammer claimed they could 'fix' the grades. Student A transferred money multiple times, losing nearly 300,000 RMB in total.
• According to a March 2026 report by China News Service, many international students were defrauded after trusting advertisements for 'insider' exam papers to prevent failing. Police investigations confirmed that the 'past papers' were merely mock exams automatically generated by AI based on public syllabi, with victims losing amounts ranging from thousands to tens of thousands of RMB.
• In March 2025, a parent in Lixia District, Jinan, Shandong, reported that a man claiming to be from an educational institution promised to facilitate a school transfer, demanding 90,000 RMB in fees. The parent paid a 30,000 RMB deposit before police arrested the suspect, surnamed Ma, and recovered the funds. This was cited as a typical case of school transfer fraud by Shandong police (Source: https://sdxw.iqilu.com/w/article/YS0yMS0xNzI1MzA4NQ.html).
• In April 2026, Shanghai police dismantled a scam ring targeting international students. The group lurked in social media groups posing as alumni, using grade-fixing and graduation guarantees as bait to induce multiple transfers. The Pudong Branch of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau disclosed that one student was defrauded of 120,000 RMB and returned to China specifically to report the case (Source: https://finance.sina.cn/2026-04-25/detail-inhvsqpe7302211.d.html).

Official Stance

• On March 23, 2026, Shanghai police announced the dismantling of a scam ring using AI to generate fake exam papers, arresting 23 suspects and warning international students to be vigilant against such targeted scams.
• On April 24, 2026, China News Service, in collaboration with various anti-fraud centers, released a warning detailing the scam tactics of posing as alumni and using AI-generated materials, urging students not to trust unverified 'insider' information.
• In April 2026, CCTV's 'Rule of Law Online' aired details of related cases, with public security departments warning overseas students and their parents to be alert to secondary 'chain' scams involving promises of grade changes and guaranteed passes.

How to Protect Yourself

• ✅ When a stranger claiming to be an alumnus recommends paid materials, insist on verification via an official university email address or check their account through official campus forums.
• ✅ Recognize that any promise of a 'guaranteed pass,' 'guaranteed grade,' or 'grade change' is either a scam or a serious academic integrity violation. Never transfer money for such illicit services.
• ✅ Obtain study materials only through university libraries, official partner platforms, or direct channels from professors. Maintain high vigilance against high-priced materials promoted via private messages on instant messaging apps.
• ✅ If you suspect you have been defrauded or encounter such solicitations, immediately capture chat logs and transfer receipts as evidence, report the incident to your university's academic integrity office, and file a report with your local public security anti-fraud center.