Fake VAST.AI Computing Power Leasing Ponzi Scheme: Brand Impersonation of a Unicorn to Scam Funds via Node Hosting High-Yield Promises

Who Gets Targeted

The victims are primarily middle-aged and elderly investors who have a superficial understanding of the AI computing power concept yet yearn for high returns, along with some young retail investors looking to ride the halo of the 'AI unicorn.' Their psychological vulnerability lies in blindly trusting the brand endorsement of a legitimate unicorn that recently raised 1 billion, equating node hosting and computing power leasing with stable wealth management. At the same time, they are stimulated by sales pitches of daily dividends and 20% monthly returns, triggering a fear of missing out (FOMO). Seeing early small-scale withdrawals succeed, they add more principal, ignoring the harvesting rhythm of Ponzi schemes which are sweet at first and bitter in the end.

骗局怎么运作

• Brand Impersonation: The syndicate impersonates the name, logo, and official website materials of the real AI computing power unicorn VAST.AI, creating node hosting project groups on channels such as Telegram and WeChat, claiming to be the platform's China region agent. They use real financing news to create an illusion of legitimacy, misleading victims into thinking it is official business expansion.
• Hype and Brainwashing: Packaging the project with the explosion of AI computing power demand and daily outputs of tens of dollars per T of computing power, they forge earnings reports and backend screenshots, and cyclically broadcast countdowns to closing investments in the group. They claim spots are limited and prices will increase tomorrow, creating a sense of scarcity to induce users to quickly place orders to reserve computing power nodes.
• Small Profit Bait: After users make their initial top-up, the platform pays out small daily dividends as promised and allows successful withdrawals, which is actually using funds from later participants to pay early returns. Seeing real money enter their accounts, victims lower their guard, posting their gains in the group to create a bandwagon effect and attract more funds into the market.
• Upgraded Harvesting: When users increase their investments or invite others to join, the platform introduces node packages and hosting incentives, promising doubled returns after a lock-up period of several months, during which withdrawals are actually prohibited. At the same time, it sets up team performance bonuses and 8-generation commission rebates, encouraging victims to bring in friends and family to keep the capital pool running through downline expansion.
• Rundown and Liquidation: Once the capital pool reaches a certain scale, the platform stops withdrawals under pretexts such as system maintenance, suspicion of violations, or audits, and subsequently closes communities and deletes the app. The masterminds disperse and transfer funds through overseas accounts, leaving victims with no recourse to recover their losses and losing everything.
• Skin-Changing Revival: After a collapse, the same group of masterminds changes the project name and puts on a new AI concept disguise, such as Lobster Smart Chain or Smart Chain Digital Science, cycling through short dramas, digital collectibles, and computing power leasing to harvest users sequentially, forming a professional leek-harvesting industrial chain.

红旗信号（看到这些快跑）

• 🚩 Unofficial Channel Promotion: Promoted in communities under the names of China regional agent and node hosting, but the official company has never released any relevant cooperation announcements.
• 🚩 Outrageously High Returns: Daily or monthly return rates far exceed the returns of the real computing power leasing market, claiming daily dividends and weekly rebates, exhibiting obvious Ponzi scheme characteristics.
• 🚩 Suspicious Brand Endorsement: Using the name of a well-known AI company without providing official authorization documents, with an official website domain inconsistent with the real one, and missing or forged ICP filing information.
• 🚩 Downline Commission Rebates: Setting up multi-level referral rewards and team performance bonuses, using the number of downlines developed as the core metric for dividends, which is essentially pyramid marketing.
• 🚩 Changing Withdrawal Thresholds: Initial small withdrawals are normal, but suddenly obstacles such as lock-up periods, account upgrades, and fund freezes are introduced, with customer service giving evasive and delayed excuses.
• 🚩 Dispersed Collection Accounts: Top-up collection accounts frequently change to personal accounts, overseas accounts, or third-party payment channels, having no affiliation with the official company whatsoever.

真实案例

• In February 2026, an investor surnamed A saw a promotional post for so-called VAST AI node hosting in a WeChat group, invested 30,000 yuan to buy a computing power package, received hundreds of yuan in daily dividends for the first week, and then the platform froze the account under the pretext of a system upgrade. Eventually, the group was disbanded, and the principal could not be recovered.
• In March 2026, according to anti-fraud media reports, a woman downloaded an unofficial app through short video ads to participate in an AI computing power sharing project, successively investing 120,000 yuan. Only after the platform fled did she realize she had been scammed, and after reporting it to the local public security organ, an investigation was officially opened.
• Public reports show that overseas syndicates impersonated the AI unicorn VAST.AI to recruit people in multiple domestic provinces. Some victims were lured into installing Trojan-infected unofficial apps and granting contact list permissions, with funds transferred to overseas accounts through third-party payment channels. Public security organs have received multiple reports.
• In July 2026, anti-fraud review platform Pingpan issued a warning on the fake VAST.AI Ponzi scheme: criminals impersonated a well-known AI enterprise, packaging the scheme as 'AI computing power leasing investment' with tiered levels—a minimum of 500 USDT to participate with 0.5% daily returns, and up to 59,880 USDT for the highest flagship zone with 0.78% daily returns. The domain was just registered on July 7, 2026, and the masterminds are hiding in the Laos border region, having spread to Hubei, Yunnan, Jiangxi, and other places. (Source: [https://pingpan.cc/article/5933.html](https://pingpan.cc/article/5933.html))
• In July 2026, anti-fraud media disclosed that the fake VAST.AI project is a pyramid investment scheme: the platform sets up direct and indirect referral rewards as well as team-level tier dividends, requiring 5 persons referred directly and 30,000 USDT in performance to upgrade to a team leader, making fund flows obscured through USDT cross-chain top-ups, with both the operational entity and core personnel located abroad. (Source: [https://www.wazi.cc/article/6088.html](https://www.wazi.cc/article/6088.html))

Official Stance

• On August 11, 2026, the Financial Committee Office of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee issued a fraud prevention warning, reminding the public about new leasing financial scams such as 'mobile phone leasing wealth management,' stating that 16.8% annualized returns are untrustworthy and advising not to participate.
• In April 2026, National Business Daily published an investigation into the collapse of Great Wall Yiquan Pai, exposing fake operator identities and hundreds of investors unable to withdraw millions of funds, warning vigilance against high-yield financial traps under the names of auctions and leasing.
• Public security organs in multiple regions have issued anti-fraud tips to be vigilant against illegal fundraising and pyramid schemes under the names of AI computing power and smart computing centers. Some cases have been officially filed for investigation, with estimated involved amounts exceeding 300 million yuan.

How to Protect Yourself

• ✅ Verify Officially: Before investing, log into the AI company's official website and official social media to verify whether they have node hosting businesses and authorized agent lists. Any high-yield project promoted through unofficial channels should be directly regarded as a scam.
• ✅ Calculate and Validate: Check the daily earnings per T of computing power and pricing of various cloud vendors in the real computing power leasing market, and compare them with the yields claimed by the platform. Immediately rule out any that exceed reasonable ranges by multiple times.
• ✅ Small-Scale Testing: Even if unsure for the moment, test with no more than several hundred yuan at most, and never add principal during the lock-up period. Once a withdrawal fails, immediately stop investing and preserve evidence.
• ✅ Preserve Evidence: Save chat logs, transfer receipts, app download packages, promoter accounts, and community promotional screenshots, and submit them all together when reporting to the police to buy time for recovering stolen funds and mitigating losses.