AI Fake Original NFT Celebrity Digital Collectible Live Streaming Scam: Packaging Limited Digital Art with Face-Swapping Materials

Who Gets Targeted

The primary victims include celebrity fans, novice digital collectible investors, and middle-aged or young groups with a superficial understanding of blockchain technology. Driven by their affection for a certain celebrity, they trusted the 'authorized' promotions in the live streams, while falling prey to scarcity anxiety and speculative psychology fueled by pitches such as 'limited release,' 'on-chain ownership confirmation,' and 'appreciation potential.' Some victims had never touched NFTs or crypto wallets before, completing transfers or over-the-counter transactions solely based on the host's verbal guidance. They only realized they had been scammed after discovering they could not resell the items, the platform had absconded, or the celebrity's studio issued a statement denying authorization, leaving virtually no path for recourse.

骗局怎么运作

• Step 1: The gang first utilizes open-source AI face-swapping and voice synthesis models to replace celebrity faces in existing short drama or advertisement clips. They then extract key frames or synthesize still frames, processing them through style transfer algorithms into pop art, cyber style, and other artistic digital images. This visually distances the content from the original material to evade simple reverse image search comparisons.
• Step 2: They register matrix accounts across various short video platforms, setting up the live streaming background in a 'digital art museum' style. The host claims a 'strategic cooperation with a certain celebrity's digital economic team,' displays the AI-generated pseudo-original works, and overlays forged electronic authorization certificates or blockchain hash values in the corner of the screen to create a dual illusion of official endorsement and on-chain ownership confirmation.
• Step 3: The sales pitch emphasizes 'globally limited to 500 copies,' 'minted on-chain and uncopyable,' and 'initial price will certainly rise tenfold later.' They arrange shills in the live chat to post comments like 'already grabbed 3 copies' and 'made a profit right after reselling,' creating a sense of urgency for quick purchases. The hosts also guide fans to join private domain communities under the guise of 'exclusive priority purchase and double rebates within the community,' funneling traffic from public platforms to private domains that are harder to regulate.
• Step 4: Actual transactions are not completed on mainstream NFT trading platforms. Instead, the gang directs buyers to a self-built simple 'digital collectible mall' or straight to off-platform WeChat groups or Telegram groups for direct transfers. After making the payment, buyers only receive a replicable image link or a so-called 'minting certificate' without truly being recorded on-chain. The so-called 'hash value' is merely a randomly generated string and cannot be queried on any public blockchain explorer.
• Step 5: When the first batch of victims attempts to resell or verify their items, they find the platform inaccessible, customer service out of contact, and the community disbanded. After harvesting a round, the gang quickly cancels the matrix accounts, closes the self-built mall, and replaces the same materials with a new celebrity face to batch-copy for the next round of live streaming, forming a standardized assembly-line scam.
• Step 6: If anyone seeks recourse, the gang deflects by claiming 'digital collectibles are virtual commodities, and price fluctuations are market behavior' and 'risks were clearly stated.' They even counter-threaten victims by stating that 'spreading false information will infringe upon the celebrity's right to reputation,' exploiting victims' legal blind spots and information asymmetry to deter them from reporting to the police.

红旗信号（看到这些快跑）

• 🚩 The live streaming room claims 'exclusive authorization' from the celebrity or studio but fails to provide authorization documents stamped with an official seal, or the provided authorization letter is blurry and lacks a unified social credit code.
• 🚩 The hash value of the so-called 'on-chain ownership confirmation' cannot be found on any mainstream public blockchain explorer (such as Etherscan, OpenChain), or the query shows a minting time later than the live stream release time.
• 🚩 Transactions are not completed on public NFT platforms, but rather directed to self-built mini-programs, off-platform WeChat groups, or direct transfers to personal accounts, where the payee's name does not match the so-called 'digital art company.'
• 🚩 The host repeatedly uses sales pitches such as 'limited edition,' 'initial price guaranteed to rise,' and 'double rebates within the community,' using chat shills to create a sense of urgency while refusing to provide a cooling-off period or return and exchange policies.
• 🚩 The so-called 'digital collectible' is essentially just an infinitely replicable image link or local file, lacking smart contract addresses and any verifiable on-chain circulation records.
• 🚩 The celebrity's studio has publicly issued a statement denying any digital collectible or NFT cooperation, or the celebrity has never ventured into the field of digital collectibles before, yet the live streaming room claims it is a 'digital art premiere.'

真实案例

• In July 2026, actress Yu Shuxin's studio issued a statement stating that her face and voice were entirely misappropriated by AI short dramas, and the related infringing content was circulated across platforms. This incident was reported by multiple media outlets including New Tang Dynasty Television and World Journal. Some grey industry gangs subsequently reprocessed the involved AI face-swapping frames into 'Yu Shuxin Digital Art Cards' and priced them for sale in private domain communities, while the studio's statement explicitly clarified that no such authorization exists.
• In 2026, an incident involving Jackson Yee's face being swapped in AI short dramas sparked widespread attention. The Hongguo platform urgently removed the relevant non-compliant works and stated it had completed the disposal of 670 non-compliant works. According to NetEase reports, his studio issued a rights-protection statement in the early morning. Afterwards, certain live streaming rooms sold pseudo-original NFT images under the name of 'Jackson Yee AI Digital Art Limited Cards,' disappearing completely after receiving payments. (Source: [https://www.163.com/dy/article/KPRG2L6G0511U82T.html](https://www.163.com/dy/article/KPRG2L6G0511U82T.html))
• Hong Kong actress Sharon Chan's likeness was made into an AI image to promote weight-loss products, prompting her to urgently issue a statement declaring that no cooperation exists (according to HK01 reports). Similar tactics were transplanted into NFT scams, where gangs processed Sharon Chan's AI portrait into 'retro pop-style digital collectibles' and sold them at high prices in live streaming rooms, leaving victims with only an ordinary image file after payment. (Source: [https://global.hk01.com/%E5%8D%B3%E6%97%B6%E5%A8%B1%E4%B9%90/60373399/%E5%AE%A3%E8%90%B1%E8%82%96%E5%83%8F%E5%8F%98AI%E5%9B%BE%E7%89%87%E6%8E%A8%E9%94%80%E7%98%A6%E8%BA%AB%E4%BA%A7%E5%93%81-%E6%80%A5%E5%8F%91%E5%A3%B0%E6%98%8E-%E4%B8%8D%E5%AD%98%E5%9C%A8%E4%BB%BB%E4%BD%95%E5%90%88%E4%BD%9C](https://global.hk01.com/%E5%8D%B3%E6%97%B6%E5%A8%B1%E4%B9%90/60373399/%E5%AE%A3%E8%90%B1%E8%82%96%E5%83%8F%E5%8F%98AI%E5%9B%BE%E7%89%87%E6%8E%A8%E9%94%80%E7%98%A6%E8%BA%AB%E4%BA%A7%E5%93%81-%E6%80%A5%E5%8F%91%E5%A3%B0%E6%98%8E-%E4%B8%8D%E5%AD%98%E5%9C%A8%E4%BB%BB%E4%BD%95%E5%90%88%E4%BD%9C))
• In February 2024, according to China Youth Daily, the People's Court of Jing'an District, Shanghai, delivered a first-instance judgment against 8 defendants who defrauded people by impersonating actor Jin Dong. The principal culprit was sentenced to three years in prison. The gang posted fake celebrity videos on short video platforms to attract middle-aged and elderly women, defrauding multiple victims of a total of over 310,000 yuan. (Source: [https://news.cyol.com/gb/articles/2024-02/05/content_AjGKMncz0o.html](https://news.cyol.com/gb/articles/2024-02/05/content_AjGKMncz0o.html))
• In May 2023, according to Lianhe Zaobao citing information released by Ping An Baotou, the head of a technology company in Fuzhou fell victim to an AI face-swapping scam. Fraudsters impersonated a friend to initiate a WeChat video call for a loan, and the person in charge was defrauded of 4.3 million yuan within 10 minutes. Baotou police and banks assisted in recovering 3.3684 million yuan of the defrauded funds. (Source: [https://www.zaobao.com.sg/realtime/china/story20230522-1397149](https://www.zaobao.com.sg/realtime/china/story20230522-1397149))

Official Stance

• In 2026, the Cyberspace Administration of China handled over 1,840 non-compliant accounts and published typical cases, explicitly listing AI deepfake infringement and false digital human endorsements as key enforcement priorities. Market regulation departments in multiple regions have filed investigations into 'AI virtual internet celebrity endorsements.'
• In July 2026, Hangzhou public security cracked the country's first public opinion extortion case perpetrated under the guise of 'drama protection,' dismantling a 10-person gang led by individuals surnamed Li and Liao. This case revealed the industrial chain ecology where AI face-swapping infringing content is exploited by the grey industry for reverse extortion.
• The National Internet Finance Association of China and multiple other departments have repeatedly issued warnings regarding risks such as speculation, fraud, and money laundering in the NFT and digital collectibles sector. They remind consumers to be vigilant against promotions such as 'limited release' and 'appreciation guarantee,' and to avoid trusting digital collectible transactions from unofficial channels.

How to Protect Yourself

• ✅ Verify whether there is an official digital collectible or NFT authorization announcement through the celebrity studio's official Weibo or WeChat official accounts prior to purchase; the absence of an official public notice should be regarded as high risk.
• ✅ Request the seller to provide a smart contract address and transaction hash that can be queried in real-time on a public blockchain explorer. Independently verify the minting time, holder address, and circulation record on platforms such as Etherscan. Refuse payment entirely if independent verification is not possible.
• ✅ Decline any transaction paths that guide users to self-built mini-programs, off-platform WeChat groups, Telegram groups, or personal accounts for fund collection, and only use official settlement channels of mainstream NFT trading platforms.
• ✅ Retain live stream recordings, direct message screenshots, transfer receipts, and promotional copywriting. Once infringement or fraud is discovered, simultaneously report to the Illegal and Undesirable Information Reporting Center of the Cyberspace Administration of China, the 12315 platform, or local public security cybersecurity departments, rather than relying solely on platform complaints.