Yueqing, China: a fraud ring posing as loan-platform staff used an AI voice-calling system to phone people and pass interested callers to human operators; police say it defrauded more than a thousand people in two months, including a man who lost a 15,500-yuan loan in July 2026, and 30 suspects were detained
According to police in Yueqing, Zhejiang, as reported by CCTV's Fazhi Zaixian programme on 29 September 2026, a man in Yueqing who wanted to borrow money for his child's summer tuition in July 2026 received a call from a supposed loan-platform agent who knew his borrowing history. Guided by the agent, he took out a 15,500-yuan loan on a legitimate platform and then transferred 5,500 yuan as a supposed 'funder's advance' and 10,000 yuan for supposed repayment, losing the whole amount. His report led police to a call centre in an office building in Changsha, Hunan. Police say the ring paid for accounts on an AI platform, loaded illegally obtained phone numbers, and let an AI voice system call people automatically with recorded scripts that responded to keywords, sorting them into six categories and transferring interested people to human operators; another victim said he had not realised the voice was a robot until police told him. Police say the ring defrauded more than a thousand people in two months, with victims including recent graduates and middle-aged and older people. Thirty suspects were detained on suspicion of fraud, more than 1 million yuan was frozen, and the ring's transactions exceeded 10 million yuan.
- AI system
- Unidentified AI voice-calling system
- Occurred
- Jul 2026
- Reported
- 29 September 2026
- Event location
- China
- What the AI did
- Communicated with the person
- Reported harm
- Financial Loss
- Whose AI use
- Someone else’s AI use
- Setting
- Finance
- Evidence
- AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account
- 4 claims: 4 reported. 4 open questions
- People reported harmed
- At least 2 people
AI system as recorded: An AI voice-calling system rented from an AI platform by the fraud ring, which placed automated calls with scripted responses and classified callees before transferring them to human operators (per Yueqing police)
What Happened
The July 2026 report. CCTV's report (carried by CNR, 29 September 2026) says that in July 2026 a man in Yueqing, Zhejiang, wanted to borrow money for his child's summer tuition and received a call from someone who knew he had borrowed on a platform before and offered a larger credit line. The agent guided him to borrow 15,500 yuan on a legitimate platform, then said 5,500 yuan was a 'funder's advance' to be returned to a specified account. He was then told that if he transferred 10,000 yuan the company would repay his loan and raise his limit; after transferring it he found his repayment balance unchanged and reported the matter to police. The whole 15,500 yuan was lost.
The AI calling system. Yueqing criminal police officer Ye Jie says the ring rented dynamic accounts on an AI platform, imported phone-number databases obtained illegally and set calling times and frequency, after which the system dialled automatically, more than 200,000 calls a day through the AI calling accounts. Recorded scripts kept the conversation going according to keywords even if the person first refused, and the system sorted people into six grades (A to F) before transferring interested callers to human operators who carried on the fraud. Another victim told CCTV he had thought the caller was a human customer-service agent until police told him it was a robot. Police concluded that the ring used AI robots for lead generation and humans to carry out the fraud, which explained how a small office received transfers from more than a thousand victims in two months. The ring also offered to obtain refunds of platform membership fees that victims could have reclaimed themselves.
Arrests. Police located the call centre in an office building in Changsha, Hunan; 30 suspects have been detained, more than 1 million yuan frozen and more than 10 million yuan of transactions traced. The IT Home summary relayed by Sina gives the same account and says police identified the ring within five days of the report.
Reported harm
Police say a fraud ring that used an AI voice-calling system to find and engage potential borrowers defrauded more than a thousand people in two months; one man lost a 15,500-yuan loan (Yueqing police via CCTV).
Outcome
OngoingYueqing police located the call centre in Changsha, Hunan, detained 30 suspects on suspicion of fraud under criminal compulsory measures, froze more than 1 million yuan and seized more than a hundred items of equipment; the ring's transactions exceeded 10 million yuan, and the case is still under investigation (CCTV via CNR; IT Home via Sina).
What remains unknown
- Which AI platform supplied the calling accounts.
- Whether the first victim's own call was placed by the AI system or a human agent; the report describes the AI system for the ring's calls generally.
- The number of victims and losses beyond the police's 'more than a thousand' and the 10 million yuan transaction figure.
- Charges and court outcomes.
What the evidence supports
AI involvement: reported. Yueqing police describe an AI voice-calling system rented from an AI platform that automatically called people, responded with scripted speech by keyword and classified them before transfer to human operators (CCTV via CNR; IT Home via Sina). A victim says police told him the voice he spoke with was a robot. The AI system spoke with the victims (communicated_with); the fraud itself was carried out by human operators. No platform is named.
4 claims: 4 reported. What the statuses mean
Reported In July 2026 a man in Yueqing seeking a loan for his child's summer tuition was guided by a supposed loan-platform agent into borrowing 15,500 yuan and transferring it to the fraudsters, losing the whole amount, and reported it to police.
Causal attribution. Victim's account and police investigation as reported by CCTV.
- cnr.cn(opens in new tab) supports · Chinese
'从正规平台贷出的15500元被骗得分文不剩。'
- finance.sina.cn(opens in new tab) supports · Chinese
'在正规平台申请贷款 15500 元'
Reported Police say the ring paid for accounts on an AI platform and used an AI voice system to dial imported phone numbers automatically, respond to people with scripted speech by keyword, sort them into six grades and transfer interested people to human operators.
Causal attribution. Yueqing police description of the ring's method.
- cnr.cn(opens in new tab) supports · Chinese
'犯罪嫌疑人在AI平台付费获取动态账号密码，只需导入从非法渠道获取的手机号码库，设定好拨打时段和频率，系统便会自动批量拨号；'; '这套系统根据沟通中出现的几个关键词，对受害人进行A到F六个等级的分类'
- finance.sina.cn(opens in new tab) supports · Chinese
'办案民警叶捷介绍称，该团伙通过 AI 机器人引流、再交由真人实施诈骗。'
Reported Another victim said he had thought he was speaking with a human customer-service agent until police told him it was a robot.
Causal attribution. Victim's statement to CCTV.
- cnr.cn(opens in new tab) supports · Chinese
'那时候没听出来它是机器人，我以为是真人打过来的'; '警察跟我说了之前说话的是机器人'
Reported Police say the ring defrauded more than a thousand people in two months; 30 suspects were detained on suspicion of fraud, more than 1 million yuan was frozen, and the ring's transactions exceeded 10 million yuan.
Causal attribution. Police figures as reported; no court finding.
- cnr.cn(opens in new tab) supports · Chinese
'在搜查中警方发现，这家公司在短短2个月时间内，竟然诈骗了上千人'; '目前，本案已抓获犯罪嫌疑人30名，冻结涉案资金100余万元，查缴各类作案工具百余件，团伙涉案流水超千万元。'
- finance.sina.cn(opens in new tab) supports · Chinese
'诈骗团伙在两个月内致上千人受骗，目前 30 名嫌疑人已被抓获，涉案流水超千万元。'
Sources
2 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.
- 央广网 (CNR, relaying CCTV News), 29 September 2026: 法治在线丨利用AI批量拨号，两月上千人被骗！起底网贷诈骗新套路(opens in new tab)
s1 · cnr.cn · News report · Chinese · Inspected · 29 September 2026 · Shares an underlying account with another listed source · Primary
- finance.sina.cn(opens in new tab)
s2 · News report · Chinese · Inspected · Shares an underlying account with another listed source
How the sources were read, and where the events happened
Read live in Simplified Chinese on 2026-10-01 (CNR copy of the CCTV News Fazhi Zaixian report of 29 September 2026; page encoded GB18030 and converted). Researcher translation. Applies to s1.
Read live in Simplified Chinese on 2026-10-01 (Sina Finance relay of IT Home's summary of the CCTV report). Researcher translation. Applies to s2.
Event countries: China. Affected-person countries: China. Court countries: Unknown.
The first reported victim lives in Yueqing, Zhejiang, and the call centre was in Changsha, Hunan (CCTV via CNR). No court step is reported.
Reviewed for publication 2026-10-01: Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as a core case: an AI voice system that spoke with people to screen them for a loan fraud. The account is the Yueqing police's, reported by CCTV and relayed by CNR and IT Home/Sina (one chain). Victims appear only by surname in the source and are not identified here.
People described
People who took out or sought online loans, including a man in Yueqing, Zhejiang, who lost 15,500 yuan, and another victim who spoke with the AI system; police describe more than a thousand victims including recent graduates and middle-aged and older people
People reported harmed in this case
At least 2 people
0 AI participants · 2 other people harmed
Additional affected people are described without a reliable count.
Two victims are described: the Yueqing man who lost 15,500 yuan and a second victim who spoke with the AI system (CCTV via CNR). Police say the ring defrauded more than a thousand people ('上千人') in two months without an exact count or loss breakdown, so the remainder is unquantified. Partial, 2 counted.
Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.
Cite this case
Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.
APA
NOPE. (2026). Yueqing, China: a fraud ring posing as loan-platform staff used an AI voice-calling system to phone people and pass interested callers to human operators; police say it defrauded more than a thousand people in two months, including a man who lost a 15,500-yuan loan in July 2026, and 30 suspects were detained. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-yueqing-online-loan-fraud-ring-ai-voice-robot-calls-30-arrested
BibTeX
@misc{2026_yueqing_online_loan_fraud_ring_ai_voice_robot_calls_30_arrested,
title = {Yueqing, China: a fraud ring posing as loan-platform staff used an AI voice-calling system to phone people and pass interested callers to human operators; police say it defrauded more than a thousand people in two months, including a man who lost a 15,500-yuan loan in July 2026, and 30 suspects were detained},
author = {NOPE},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {AI incidents},
url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-yueqing-online-loan-fraud-ring-ai-voice-robot-calls-30-arrested}
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