Scammer uses 4,600 phones to fake live-streams, earn over $0.4m in 4 months

A Chinese man who orchestrated the operation of 4,600 phones to artificially inflate live-stream viewer counts, amassing US$415,000 in under four months, has been sentenced to jail, South China Morning Post reported.

His imprisonment marks the first time that Zhejiang province in eastern China – the hub of the Chinese live-streaming industry – has punished anyone in the business for fraud.

The individual, identified as Wang, has been sentenced to 15 months in prison and fined US$7,000, equivalent to 50,000 yuan, as revealed during the trial.

Read: Xi Jinping calls for 'solid' security barrier around China's internet

Wang began his operations in late 2022 when a friend told him about a “lucrative” practice known as “brushing”. The term refers to faking real-time activities such as viewer counts, likes, comments and shares in live-streaming to simulate genuine viewer interactions and mislead consumers and TikTok is the main source used for brushing.

Wang bought 4,600 mobile phones controlled by specialised cloud software. He also bought VPN services and network equipment, such as routers and switches, from a tech company based in Changsha in central China’s Hunan province.

Read: China plans $500 million subsea internet cable to rival US-backed project

With just a few clicks on his computer, Wang could operate all the mobile phones to simultaneously flood into a live-streaming target to iNFLate viewer counts and interactions.

“The cost of using one of the mobile phones is 6.65 yuan (less than US$1) per day,” Wang said. He also made huge amount by selling the live stream services to companies and live streamers.

The authorities in China have warned that loopholes in the live-streaming system need to be closed.