A Chinese man named Wang, who used 4,600 phones to boost live-stream viewer counts artificially, has been jailed. This scheme generated US$415,000 in less than four months. According to the South China Morning Post, this is Zhejiang province’s first jail sentence for live-streaming fraud.
Wang received a 15-month prison term and a fine of US$7,000 (50,000 yuan) during his trial.
In late 2022, Wang learned about a profitable tactic called “brushing” from a friend. This involves falsifying viewer interactions like counts, likes, comments, and shares to create the illusion of high engagement on platforms such as TikTok.
To execute this, Wang acquired 4,600 mobile phones controlled by cloud software. He also purchased VPN services and networking hardware from a Changsha, Hunan province tech company.
With a few computer clicks, Wang could command all the phones to simultaneously flood a live stream, inflating viewer numbers and engagement.
Wang mentioned the operational cost for each phone was 6.65 yuan (under US$1) per day. He profited significantly by selling these inflated services to companies and live streamers.
Chinese authorities have acknowledged the need to tighten live-streaming regulations to prevent such fraud.
