Fake AI Crypto Quantitative Financial Scam: Hollow Out Principal via ChatGPT and High-Yield Smart Contracts

Who Gets Targeted

Victims are mostly retail investors with crypto experience and an admiration for AI but lacking auditing habits; middle-aged and elderly individuals fall for high yields, while younger people chase high returns, easily making impulsive entries under peer pressure. The ring leveraged ChatGPT's reputation to package quantitative models claiming 'earn 10% daily', inducing users to grant Infinite Approvals to unverified contracts. Initially, they allowed small withdrawals of 100-200 USDT to build trust. Typical losses involve wallet assets being directly drained by contracts, such as a female victim losing $74,000.

骗局怎么运作

• 1. Backed by ChatGPT's reputation, they created fake quantitative algorithm model text copies and published them on Telegram, QQ groups, and Weibo, accompanied by forged historical profit screenshots, backtesting reports, and algorithm code snippets to create the illusion that 'AI has been practically implemented'. The content emphasized exaggerated selling points such as 'earn 10% daily' and urged viewers to download the official app or scan the QR code to deposit funds.
• 2. Through the quick crypto wallet authorization process, victims were made to grant Infinite Approval to DeFi contracts released by the project in a single operation. The contract code hides the function to pull all assets; once authorization is complete, even without participating in subsequent transactions, the bot possesses the direct ability to withdraw USDT.
• 3. Established a 'low-risk testing period', initially allowing victims to withdraw small profits (such as 100-200 USDT) to build trust, and instantly disguising on-chain transaction records as real profits to further induce the illusion of 'genuine earnings'.
• 4. Utilized manual customer service or fake boss accounts to maintain one-way communication in private chat channels, forcibly blocking any inquiries regarding withdrawal failures or fees, and even issuing account freeze warnings to questioners, creating psychological pressure.
• 5. When profit demands exceeded the sustainable liquidity of a single deposit, the scammers quickly switched off withdrawal paths, immediately freezing the victim's wallet through on-chain terms like 'escape' or 'system maintenance', and subsequently transferring the locked funds to mixers or cross-border custody accounts.
• 6. Through multi-chain fragmented transfers, flash loans, and other technical means to hollow out the victim's funds, assets were sent to pre-set cold wallets and offshore financial institutions located in areas with weak compliance regulation, forming a 'tracefree' money laundering chain.

红旗信号（看到这些快跑）

• 🚩 Promising fixed daily returns or high capital protection, making it feel like an AI robot can automatically and stably generate profits.
• 🚩 Requiring victims to grant infinite approval in their wallets to unverified smart contracts, claiming it is a 'secure integration' rather than a reversible authorization.
• 🚩 Customer service is restricted internally to Telegram or WeChat groups, prohibiting discussions on withdrawals and withdrawal failures, and accounts are kicked out once reported.
• 🚩 Displayed trading screenshots exhibit extremely high consistency and watermark traces, lacking genuine on-chain transaction records and multi-party audits.
• 🚩 The project website or app uses API identifiers similar to the official ChatGPT logo, but lacks official authorization or commercial partnership statements.

真实案例

• In May 2026, Australian police disclosed that a female victim lost $74,000 after being lured into a 30-day high-yield plan within a Telegram crypto interest group. Investigation showed the contract visually partnered with ChatGPT, but hijacked all USDT through on-chain permission interception. The case has been made public in police announcements. (Source: [https://news.bitcoin.com/zh/yi-ming-nv-zi-yin-xu-jia-jia-mi-huo-bi-tou-zi-sun-shi-yu-74000-mei-yuan-ao-da-li-ya-jing-fang-xiang-xi-pi-lu-le-ai-zha-pian-shou-fa/](https://news.bitcoin.com/zh/yi-ming-nv-zi-yin-xu-jia-jia-mi-huo-bi-tou-zi-sun-shi-yu-74000-mei-yuan-ao-da-li-ya-jing-fang-xiang-xi-pi-lu-le-ai-zha-pian-shou-fa/))
• In the August 2018 '800 million Won' USDT phishing case, South Korean investors authorized contracts due to false DeFi projects promising high daily returns, resulting in 800 million Won of USDT being instantly transferred away. The incident was documented by security teams in the technical report 'Smart Contract Privilege Hijacking'. (Source: [https://developer.cloud.tencent.com/article/2634581](https://developer.cloud.tencent.com/article/2634581))
• In January 2026, police in Wenling City, Zhejiang Province reported a fake financial mobile app case where victims lost a total of 445,000 RMB within 20 days. After downloading the app, victims only saw rolled-back contract statements, and funds were continuously transferred to overseas custody accounts. (Source: [https://www.odaily.news/zh-CN/newsflash/498795](https://www.odaily.news/zh-CN/newsflash/498795))

Official Stance

• On January 27, 2026, the Shanghai Municipal Financial Work Commission Office issued the warning 'New Scenarios in Elderly-Targeted Financial Fraud', pointing out that AI forgery has become a new type of scam.
• On June 4, 2026, Ping An Fund Management Co., Ltd. issued a '3.15 Risk Warning', cautioning citizens to be wary of AI stock trading projects with monthly yields exceeding 150%.
• On July 28, 2026, the Financial Committee Office of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee released the 'Anti-Fraud Warning Window', exposing AI quantitative stock trading scams and safety countermeasures for high-yield programs.

How to Protect Yourself

• ✅ Before downloading any crypto financial app claiming AI involvement, verify its legality and security credentials through official vendors or the App Store; if lacking official certification, refuse to deposit funds.
• ✅ Whenever a project demands infinite smart contract authorization, always execute an audit in a blockchain sandbox or testnet first to check if the contract contains direct transfer or extraction functions.
• ✅ Maintain an investment log recording all on-chain transactions and contract addresses; if abnormal transactions are discovered, immediately cease authorization and track the fund flow via a blockchain explorer.
• ✅ Upon encountering forceful customer service bans or prohibitions on discussing withdrawals, immediately report to public regulatory platforms (such as police anti-fraud apps) and record chat logs; do not continue investing.