Ezubao Scam: Exploiting P2P High-Yield Promises to Lure 900,000 Investors

Who Gets Targeted

The victims were primarily middle-aged and elderly individuals lacking professional investment knowledge, alongside some micro and small enterprise owners who were eager to achieve returns higher than bank rates. They were easily swayed by promises of 20% annualized returns, full principal guarantees, and celebrity endorsements. Platforms assigned 'exclusive financial planners' to maintain continuous contact via WeChat and QQ, using urgency tactics such as flash sales and project full-capacity alerts to pressure victims into completing fund transfers within a short timeframe. Typical losses involved principal capital: Ezubao raised a cumulative total of approximately 50 billion RMB involving about 900,000 investors—over 90% of whom were elderly—with an extremely low recovery and reimbursement rate.

骗局怎么运作

• Step 1: The platform utilizes television, online advertising, social media, and other channels to promote 20% annualized returns and full principal guarantees as selling points. Paired with celebrity endorsements and fabricated success stories, it employs phrases like 'We have helped tens of thousands of families achieve wealth appreciation' and 'You only need to invest a small amount to participate' to create an illusion of high returns, attracting residents to click for initial information.
• Step 2: After users fill in their personal information on the page, the system automatically matches them with an 'exclusive financial planner' who follows up persistently via social tools such as WeChat and QQ. They send high-urgency messages like 'flash sale,' 'project is about to reach full capacity,' and 'miss out now and lose high returns,' forcing users to complete fund transfers within a brief period.
• Step 3: The platform claims that the raised funds are used for real projects such as leasing, car loans, and real estate, but in reality, it transfers the majority of funds into accounts of affiliated companies to spend on luxury cars, villas, and luxury goods, executing an empty-handed wolf scam. All so-called project fundraising progress pages are entirely falsified internally.
• Step 4: To maintain the illusion, the platform regularly publishes forged screenshots of 'project capital returns' and 'settled yields,' while actually using funds from incoming investors for internal payouts. Subsequently, it sends telephone or SMS alerts stating 'Your yields have arrived,' continuing to lure older investors into making additional investments and creating a false impression of principal safety and stable returns.
• Step 5: When regulatory agencies intervene or the capital chain fractures, the platform suddenly freezes accounts and halts withdrawals under the guise of 'system upgrades' or 'project audits,' followed by the release of a 'liquidation announcement.' This leaves investors able to liquidate remaining assets at only an extremely low proportion, causing massive losses and making asset tracing difficult.

红旗信号（看到这些快跑）

• 🚩 Promising returns far exceeding commercial bank interest rates while guaranteeing principal safety
• 🚩 Missing on-site project information, contracts, and verification documents, or providing only blurry screenshots
• 🚩 Frequent contact by financial planners via private WeChat/QQ to manufacture a sense of urgency
• 🚩 Failure of the platform to obtain legal registration or licenses from financial regulatory authorities
• 🚩 Opaque fund flows with missing official or third-party audit reports

真实案例

• On February 1, 2016, media reports disclosed that Ezubao had cumulatively raised approximately 50 billion RMB involving about 900,000 investors, with 95% of the platform's actual project returns being fabricated. Eleven core figures, including Ding Ning, were transferred for review and prosecution. (Source: [https://www.tmtpost.com/1503103.html](https://www.tmtpost.com/1503103.html))
• On July 18, 2022, a Xinhua News Agency special report indicated that 95% of Ezubao projects were fraudulent, over 90% of the victims were elderly, and cumulative asset losses exceeded 30 billion RMB. (Source: [https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20250402A07NI000](https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20250402A07NI000))
• On April 2, 2025, Tencent News reported that the second round of asset liquidation had commenced. Victims had recovered approximately 1 billion RMB of principal through court recovery efforts, but the majority of funds remained unrecoverable, making the path to loss recovery lengthy.

Official Stance

• On June 4, 2015, the China Banking Regulatory Commission issued the 'Network Lending Risk Warning,' cautioning the public against blindly investing in high-yield P2P platforms.
• On July 9, 2016, the People's Bank of China and the Banking Regulatory Commission jointly issued the 'Interim Measures for the Administration of Business Activities of Network Lending Information Intermediaries,' explicitly prohibiting illegal fundraising and false advertising.
• On July 18, 2022, Xinhua News Agency released the 'Special Notice on Illegal Fundraising in Online Lending,' listing platforms like Ezubao as primary targets for crackdown and demanding that local authorities strictly investigate similar cases.

How to Protect Yourself

• ✅ Always verify whether a platform has obtained registration or licenses from financial regulatory authorities prior to investing; checks can be conducted on the official websites of the People's Bank of China or the National Financial Regulatory Administration.
• ✅ Do not easily trust any publicity guaranteeing principal safety or annual returns far exceeding bank interest rates; rationally compare the risk and return profiles of similar products.
• ✅ Conduct financial management through regular channels (banks, brokerages) and avoid investing induced by private financial planners on social tools.
• ✅ If scammed, promptly preserve chat logs and transfer vouchers, report the case to local public security organs, and apply for recovery through financial dispute mediation platforms.