Joint Intelligent Computing Center Hosting Dividend Scheme — A Fake Financial Trap Promising AI Computing Power Dividends

Who Gets Targeted

Victims are mostly young and middle-aged white-collar workers and micro/small business owners lacking professional financial and technical backgrounds, aged primarily between 25 and 45, mostly from Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities, attracted to enter the market by social media and short video promotions of "AI computing power hosting, daily settled rent." This demographic is easily swayed by pitch phrases such as "national-level computing power hosting qualifications" and "zero-risk annualized returns of over 30%," harboring wishful thinking and a greed for quick money. They lack both basic financial knowledge and the ability to verify the authenticity of computing power equipment, easily falling for forged earnings screenshots and computing power monitoring dashboards provided by customer service, while neglecting project registration numbers, regulatory licenses, and technical feasibility checks. Once funds are transferred, withdrawals become impossible. According to whistleblower reports, the project has approximately 110,000 members, and the operators have pocketed over 100 million yuan (self-reported figures by victims, unverified by independent review), with individual losses ranging from tens of thousands to millions of yuan, ultimately losing everything.

骗局怎么运作

• Fraud rings first publish promotional posters on social media or short video platforms claiming to possess national-level computing power hosting qualifications, asserting that they have provided computing power to multiple AI enterprises and secured stable dividends, using a large volume of genuine-looking earnings screenshots to create a false impression;
• Victims are guided by exclusive customer service to fill out personal information and undergo KYC, and are subsequently instructed to transfer funds to a designated "hosting account," which is actually a fraudulent bank account or cryptocurrency wallet controlled by the scam team;
• The platform provides a so-called computing power monitoring dashboard, displaying real-time computing power utilization rates and estimated returns. All backend data is forged, and customer service uses technical jargon to explain it, leading victims to mistakenly believe the project is authentic and viable;
• After victims invest, the platform initially distributes a small amount of "trial dividends" or cashbacks to build a sense of trust, and subsequently continuously induces secondary deposits under pretexts such as "upgrading computing power," "locking in returns," or "adding margin." In reality, funds are transferred layer by layer to overseas accounts or money laundering platforms;
• When victims request withdrawals, the platform delays or refuses under excuses such as system maintenance, compliance reviews, or computing power scheduling anomalies, and finally shuts down the page and flees after a massive volume of victim complaints, leaving the funds untraceable.

红旗信号（看到这些快跑）

• 🚩 Promotional materials feature obviously exaggerated return statements such as "AI computing power hosting, zero risk, annualized returns over 30%";
• 🚩 Victims are required to transfer funds in advance to personal accounts or accounts of irregular financial institutions;
• 🚩 The provided computing power monitoring dashboards cannot be verified on third-party platforms, and technical details remain vague and ambiguous;
• 🚩 Customer service consistently uses professional jargon while evading the provision of project registration numbers, regulatory licenses, or authentic contract texts;
• 🚩 Project parties make extensive use of celebrity or prestigious university endorsements in promotional materials, but their authenticity cannot be verified.

真实案例

• In May 2024, police in a county in Jiangsu Province cracked a scam case involving a "Joint Intelligent Computing Center" hosting dividend scheme, where over 12,000 victims collectively invested approximately 1.1 billion RMB. The project party ceased cashbacks after collecting the initial round of funds, and after repeated victim complaints, the platform page was deleted. The criminal suspects involved have been criminally detained.
• In November 2023, the Shenzhen Municipal Public Security Bureau reported a case involving "VAST.AI," a disguised computing power investment platform. The scam ring used a forged overseas unicorn identity to raise 1 billion RMB. Victims were primarily tech startups and AI project teams, and the funds were rapidly transferred away through overseas cryptocurrency exchanges.
• In March 2024, Taiwan media reported a USB computing power accelerator scam case, where a criminal ring lured investors into purchasing shell hardware under the guise of "renting AI computing power for a thousand dollars." The actual interior of the device contained only ordinary flash memory and was incapable of performing any computing calculations. The amount involved reached millions of New Taiwan Dollars, and the prime suspect has been arrested.

Official Stance

• The People's Bank of China and eight other departments (People's Bank of China, National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Public Security, State Administration for Market Regulation, National Financial Regulatory Administration, China Securities Regulatory Commission, State Administration of Foreign Exchange), 2026-02-06, issued the "Notice on Further Preventing and Disposing of Risks Related to Virtual Currencies" (Yinfa 〔2026〕 No. 42) (Source: [https://www.pbc.gov.cn/tiaofasi/144941/3581332/2026020619591971323/index.html](https://www.pbc.gov.cn/tiaofasi/144941/3581332/2026020619591971323/index.html))
• Shenzhen Municipal Local Financial Administration, Shenzhen Branch of the People's Bank of China, 2026-06-18, issued the "Risk Warning on Preventing Illegal Financial Activities Involving Virtual Currencies" (Source: [http://jr.sz.gov.cn/gkmlpt/content/12/12849/post_12849408.html](http://jr.sz.gov.cn/gkmlpt/content/12/12849/post_12849408.html))

How to Protect Yourself

• ✅ Be sure to verify whether the platform is registered with the China Securities Regulatory Commission or financial regulatory authorities before investing, checking the project's business license, ICP filing number, and corresponding computing power service license;
• ✅ Do not easily trust any request to make advance payments to personal accounts or accounts of irregular financial institutions; legitimate computing power hosting should be conducted via bank transfers or regulated payment channels;
• ✅ Confirm computing power leasing prices against market levels through third-party technical communities or professional computing power providers to avoid being blinded by abnormally high return promises;
• ✅ Independently verify the monitoring dashboard provided by the platform, paying particular attention to whether corresponding rental records can be queried on public computing power cloud platforms (such as Alibaba Cloud or Huawei Cloud);
• ✅ If abnormalities are discovered, report to local public security organs and financial regulatory departments immediately, and retain key evidence such as chat logs and transfer receipts (attach screenshots of the platform's claimed computing power ID and verifiable cloud vendor rental orders to the reporting materials).