AI Interview Scam: High-Fee Services with No Real Evaluation, Relying Solely on Machine Generation

Who Gets Targeted

The primary victims are recent college graduates, young to middle-aged professionals seeking career changes, and students facing employment pressure, mostly aged 20 to 30. Geographically, they are active job seekers on recruitment platforms and short-video platforms in first and second-tier cities. These groups often suffer from high job-seeking anxiety, place blind trust in AI technology, and lack the ability to verify institutional qualifications or expert credentials. They are easily lured by claims such as 'AI Expert Evaluation' or 'Guaranteed Job Offers,' leading them to act on impulse and pay fees. In publicly disclosed recruitment scams, victims have been asked to pay a 2,000 yuan 'investment' fee before realizing they were being scammed (media estimates remain unverified). Single losses reach the thousands, and after payment, victims neither receive real interview opportunities nor are they able to obtain refunds or seek legal recourse.

骗局怎么运作

• Step 1: Scammers place advertisements on recruitment platforms, short-video platforms, and social groups, claiming to provide AI-driven professional mock interview services supported by senior HR expert evaluations. Fees range from 99 yuan for basic assessments to thousands of yuan for 'guaranteed offer' packages. The marketing copy uses false promises like 'guaranteed job offers with one-time payment' and 'direct access to interviews via internal referrals' to entice job seekers.
• Step 2: Victims click on ad links to enter fraudulent registration pages. After submitting their resumes and job preferences, they are induced to pay thousands of yuan in service fees or so-called 'facilitation fees.' The platform claims to support multiple payment channels and ensures fund security, while using tactics like limited-time discounts or 'only 3 spots left' to create a sense of urgency and pressure victims into paying quickly.
• Step 3: The platform does not hire real recruitment experts. Instead, it uses publicly available open-source large models to generate interview scenarios, mock questions, and evaluation reports. The reports consist mostly of generic, templated text, yet are stamped with forged seals of 'senior review boards' and use exaggerated terms like 'high potential' or '98% match' to enhance credibility.
• Step 4: After payment, the platform arranges a 'mock interview' video conference. In reality, this is conducted by platform customer service or low-paid part-time workers posing as interviewers, following a pre-written script to create a high-pressure atmosphere. They then claim the candidate's performance is 'just short of an offer' to upsell more expensive services like one-on-one expert coaching or internal referrals at major companies.
• Step 5: If the victim pays more, the platform sends forged job offer letters or internal referral agreements, claiming to have reached an agreement with the company, and demands further 'facilitation fees' or 'job deposits' ranging from thousands to tens of thousands of yuan. Ultimately, the victim receives no real interview or job offer, and the platform cuts contact or blocks the victim, making it impossible to recover the funds.

红旗信号（看到这些快跑）

• 🚩 Promotional content makes absolute promises such as 'AI + Expert Evaluation,' 'Guaranteed Job Offer,' or 'Direct Internal Referral,' but fails to provide verifiable third-party credentials or links to the experts' actual professional history.
• 🚩 Opaque fee structures: starting with low-cost assessments to lure victims, followed by layers of additional charges, eventually forcing a one-time payment of thousands of yuan.
• 🚩 Interview evaluation reports are generic and templated, lacking personalized analysis for the target position and showing high levels of repetition.
• 🚩 Inability to provide real names or verifiable professional experience for interviewers or the review team, often referring to them only as 'anonymous senior HR' or 'major company recruitment experts.'
• 🚩 Refusal to provide formal service contracts or refund channels; after-sales communication is restricted to private channels like WeChat or QQ, and victims are blocked if they raise issues.

真实案例

• On April 16, 2026, Sina Tech reported on a 'recruitment-to-training' scam on a recruitment platform. A victim paid 2,690 yuan for an 'AI Express Interview' simulation, received only a generic AI-generated report, and was then asked for a 2,000 yuan internal referral fee. The victim received no interviews, losing a total of 4,690 yuan.
• On August 9, 2026, Tencent News reported on a fake job scam where police arrested 11 suspects. The group promoted 'AI interview brushing' and 'paid direct internship' services on social media, collecting approximately 120,000 yuan in facilitation fees. Most victims were college students; one victim lost 12,000 yuan.
• On June 25, 2026, CCTV exposed chaos among several AI training institutions. One institution used 'AI interview simulation with expert evaluation' as a gimmick, charging job seekers between 3,000 and 9,800 yuan. The actual service consisted of generic text generated by public AI models with no real expert review. Over 200 victims were involved, with total losses exceeding 1.5 million yuan; one woman was scammed out of 7,800 yuan.
• In August 2025, the Qingpu District People's Procuratorate of Shanghai disclosed a 'recruitment-to-training' scam: a group posted fake job ads for 'zero-basis video editing' on popular platforms, pushing high-priced online courses under the guise of 'skills training.' Over two years, they defrauded victims in more than 20 provinces and cities of over 30 million yuan. The procuratorate prosecuted 28 individuals for fraud, and the court sentenced them to prison terms ranging from 1 year and 9 months to 13 years. (Source: https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_31445107)
• In July 2025, the Zhuji City People's Procuratorate in Zhejiang Province prosecuted over 50 people for fraud. The group charged college students 20,000 yuan for 'direct referrals to major companies' and 'guaranteed internship certificates,' arranging fake online internships and issuing certificates with forged corporate seals. By the time of the case, they had defrauded over 5,000 students of more than 24 million yuan. The court began issuing verdicts in September 2025. (Source: https://www.hunantoday.cn/news/xhn/202607/33094185.html)

Official Stance

• Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, Cyberspace Administration of China, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Public Security, and National Financial Regulatory Administration, 2026-05-15, issued 'Risk Warnings Regarding Recruitment-to-Training and Training Loans' (Source: https://www.news.cn/20260515/114194711c1949daa3fb35892541e9ff/c.html)

How to Protect Yourself

• ✅ Before signing up for any paid AI interview service, verify the institution's qualifications through official recruitment platforms or the websites of market regulatory authorities. Check if they hold the necessary business licenses and refuse to pay based solely on short-video or social media advertisements.
• ✅ Carefully review service contract terms. If there are absolute promises like 'guaranteed job offers' or 'internal referrals,' or if the service requires large one-time payments, additional facilitation fees, or deposits, stop payment immediately and retain relevant evidence.
• ✅ Keep all payment receipts, chat logs, service contracts, and evaluation reports. If you discover that the service content is templated or lacks real expert review, report it immediately to local market supervision authorities or the police.
• ✅ Prioritize free mock interview services provided by university career centers or official recruitment platforms to improve your skills, and avoid relying on so-called 'shortcut' paid services.