AI impersonates "Xiaohai" to sell goods with sob stories, specifically scamming elderly people out of money by exploiting their sympathy

October 16 news — AI short dramas have gotten popular again recently, and even Xiaolei couldn't help but binge a few nights of them.

What's even more absurd is that this isn't just one Xiaohai. Search online and you'll find dozens of accounts named Xiaohai, Xiaotao, and Xiaoyu — they all look different, but their stories are much the same: all uniformly playing the pity card to sell goods.

(Image source: Weibo)

Step one is precise persona-building, taking the pity act to the extreme.

The scripts are specially designed for middle-aged and elderly audiences: eyes reddened toward the camera, voice choked with tears, plus some sad background music. Never mind soft-hearted elders — even young people who stumble on it can easily find themselves empathizing.

Step two is emotional bonding: calling out "auntie," "mom" with every other word, weaving pleas for support into every line.

For example, "I know you aunties are all kind-hearted people" and "only you aunties care about me," forcibly tying buying products to doing a good deed. In the eyes of elders, buying his stuff isn't consumption — it's helping this poor child.

I asked friends around Xiaolei, and sure enough, it's real. They complained that their mothers and aunts had all fallen for this: once sympathy kicks in, they place an order right away, with no thought to whether the thing is worth it or even useful.

(Image source: Weibo)

The most scamming part is step three: selling inferior goods at high prices.

The products these accounts push are mostly extremely low-cost, shoddy daily necessities and unlicensed health supplements — things that cost a few yuan to make sell for tens or even hundreds of yuan.

With the sympathy filter in place, elders don't fuss over the price; they just think they'll help however little they can.

But what they don't know is that the child they feel sorry for isn't a real person at all — it's a fake generated in bulk from lines of code, and the money they scrimp and save all goes into the pockets of the team operating behind it.

And the trick is still evolving: besides young AI Xiaohai, there are also AI-disguised elderly men and women. Some pose as solitary seniors saying their children are unfilial and they're selling local specialties to scrape by — same old trick in a new bottle, all exploiting people's sympathy to make money.

Scammers can't even get a word in to push their fraud scripts, wasting tens of minutes for nothing, ending up with nothing scammed and thoroughly frustrated.

(Image source: Apate.ai official website)

But I really can't understand: with such good technology, why do some people set their minds on exploiting loopholes, targeting the elderly's retirement savings?

Xiaolei Bibi (ID: xiaoleibbb) thinks everyone should take the time to talk with the elders in their family about these new tricks.

Source: Leikeji

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