Man uses 4,600 smartphones to scam thousands, make millions in months
Online fraud using thousands of phones lands Chinese man in jail
A novel scam emerged in China where a man reportedly earned massive amounts of money by inflating viewer counts using thousands of smartphones in Zhejiang province.
With the help of this new fraud, the man was able to earn 3 million yuan ($415,000) in just few months, according to Interesting Engineering report.
On the internet, his services were to allow streamers to get maximum online engagement.
As the authorities were reported about the scam, they arrested the scammer and incarcerated him for 15 months with a fine of 50,000 yuan (US$7,000).
The person was identified as Wang who started the scamming tricks in 2022 after brushing practice.
Brushing is an act of deception to falsify real activities on the internet and attract online engagement.
Such acts are used mostly in e-commerce business for higher user ratings and fake orders.
Wang bought 4,600 smartphones and installed a specific software that could allow him to operate all the phones with just some clicks on his computer.
According to the publican, the suspect noted that it cost merely 6.65 yuan per day to operate one phone.
South China Morning Post quoted Chinese authorities as saying that other than Wang, 17 more are under investigation for "breaking national regulations, knowingly spreading fake information online through publishing services for profit, and disrupting the market order."