Fake AI Concept 'Air Coin' Ponzi Schemes: Millions in Investment Capital Vanish Overnight

Who Gets Targeted

Victims are primarily ordinary investors with some disposable income but little financial or blockchain literacy, including micro-entrepreneurs and middle-class individuals desperate to capitalize on the AI trend for social mobility. Their psychological vulnerability lies in an extreme desire for overnight wealth and blind worship of new tech buzzwords. Faced with high-tech jargon and promises of early high returns, they often lose the ability to think critically, becoming trapped in group hysteria. Even when withdrawals are blocked, they are often re-victimized by scammers using 'system upgrade' excuses.

骗局怎么运作

• Packaging high-tech concepts and teams: Operators fabricate or exaggerate concepts like AI computing power sharing and underlying blockchain technology for large models, renting overseas servers to build fake exchanges and wallet apps. They claim the team consists of AI experts returning from Silicon Valley and blockchain geeks, using forged whitepapers and fake roadshow videos to repackage ordinary MLM points as next-generation AI infrastructure tokens with disruptive value.
• Leveraging celebrity endorsements and community fission: By paying high appearance fees or using deceptive tactics, they recruit washed-up tech figures, influencers, or opinion leaders in the micro-business sector to endorse the project as 'strategic partners.' Within private communities, they use referral incentives—such as 'refer to earn computing power' or 'early-bird private placement shares'—to drive viral growth, promising early investors dozens of times the listing gains to create a sense of scarcity and urgency.
• Market manipulation and artificial prosperity: After the token launches, operators use internal accounts and funds to conduct 'wash trading' on off-exchange markets, artificially inflating trading volume and creating a trend where the price only goes up. 'Water armies' (paid shills) are deployed in communities daily to post fake profit screenshots and testimonials thanking 'mentors' for their guidance, inducing retail investors to chase the high out of fear of missing out (FOMO).
• Restricting withdrawals and multi-stage harvesting: Once capital inflow slows or a target is reached, operators suddenly freeze accounts and restrict withdrawals, citing hacker attacks, system maintenance, or regulatory compliance reviews. They simultaneously introduce 'node staking' or 'liquidation relief' rules, forcing investors to add more capital to 'unlock' their existing assets, leading to a final, secondary round of theft.
• Price manipulation and exit scam: After extracting the final wave of additional funds, operators dump their reserved tokens, causing the price to crash to zero. They then shut down the website and dissolve the community. Stolen funds are laundered through mixers and multi-layered offshore remittance channels. Investors not only face total loss of principal but are also unable to seek legal recourse, as the project entities are typically registered in offshore tax havens.

红旗信号（看到这些快跑）

• 🚩 The project claims to possess cutting-edge AI large models or computing technology, but its website and whitepaper are riddled with translation errors and patchwork content, with no verifiable open-source code or update logs.
• 🚩 It emphasizes a dual-track reward system of static high returns and dynamic referral bonuses, promising fixed daily yields, and requires specific invitation codes to purchase tokens.
• 🚩 Customer service and 'investment mentors' are not real-name verified, communicating only through group chats and private messages, refusing to provide a physical office address or providing only a virtual office address.
• 🚩 Tokens can only be traded on the project's own low-quality exchange, with deposits made via direct transfers of mainstream cryptocurrencies or fiat currency, lacking consensus or liquidity on major, legitimate exchanges.
• 🚩 Withdrawals are suddenly restricted via multiple methods before regulatory risks emerge, with frequent demands for 'unfreezing fees' or 'security deposits' under the guise of technical adjustments or compliance, followed by group silencing or the collective disappearance of administrators.

真实案例

• In October 2025, the Minhang District Court in Shanghai sentenced the ringleader of a 'face-payment' air coin scam to ten years in prison. The perpetrator used the promotion of face-payment devices as bait to issue worthless tokens like GDFC and ME, promising triple returns and NASDAQ listing equity. Over 35 million RMB was defrauded; one victim invested 1.98 million RMB and was scammed a second time for 400,000 RMB. (Source: https://blockweeks.com/news/176666)
• In February 2025, as exposed by NBD, scammers created 75 fake 'DeepSeek' tokens on the Ethereum and Solana networks amid the AI boom. One token, 'Seek,' reached a market cap of $48 million before crashing to zero. The total fraud amounted to 420 million RMB, with the official DeepSeek team clarifying they never issued any cryptocurrency. (Source: https://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2025-02-07/3745066.html)
• In 2020, public security authorities cracked the PlusToken pyramid scheme, where organizers promised high returns under the guise of blockchain value-added services. The scheme involved over 2 million participants across 3,000 levels, collecting over 40 billion RMB in digital assets. It was considered the largest Ponzi scheme in the crypto space, and the seized billions in digital currency were turned over to the national treasury. (Source: https://m.yicai.com/news/103086654.html)
• CCTV previously investigated multiple virtual currency projects claiming to use blockchain and AI computing power. One platform used crypto influencers to livestream and pump tokens to attract retail investors, while secretly manipulating trading data in the background, causing investors to lose over 50 million RMB. By the time police intervened, the core suspects had already fled the country.

Official Stance

• In September 2021, the People's Bank of China and ten other departments jointly issued a notice on further preventing and disposing of risks in virtual currency trading, explicitly stating that virtual currency-related business activities are illegal financial activities.
• In March 2026, the Tencent News verification platform published an article warning the public about 'passing the parcel' scams disguised as decentralized projects, reminding citizens to be wary of the double trap of virtual currencies and Ponzi schemes.
• In March 2026, Guotong Trust published a special article on 'learning from cases,' warning of new tactics in virtual currency scams and explicitly stating that any virtual currency investment promising guaranteed principal and returns is a fraud.
• The Jiangsu Cyberspace Administration, in collaboration with multiple departments, issued a warning on a rumor-refutation platform, advising the public not to trust virtual currency projects issued under the guise of new concepts like AI computing power to avoid being defrauded.

How to Protect Yourself

• ✅ If you encounter any project claiming to involve cutting-edge AI and blockchain technology while issuing tokens, first demand proof of open-source code and compliance filings; if you cannot find a code repository on mainstream platforms, refuse to participate.
• ✅ Resolutely refuse requests to transfer investment funds directly to personal bank accounts or non-mainstream, non-compliant digital wallets. Do not click on suspicious crypto-trading group links or download/install unknown software.
• ✅ Be wary of any financial structure that requires recruiting others to earn returns or offers multi-level rebates. If the reward mechanism matches the characteristics of team-based compensation or multi-level distribution prohibited by anti-pyramid selling regulations, leave the group immediately to stop losses.
• ✅ If you find that withdrawals are blocked and you are forced to pay a 'security deposit' or 'unfreezing fee,' stop paying immediately, save all chat logs, transfer receipts, and software interface screenshots, and report the case to local public security authorities immediately.