Meet The ‘Xiaohai’: AI Avatars Scamming Elderly Users With Fake Sob Stories

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Chinese short-video platforms are battling a bizarre e-commerce scam fuelled by artificial intelligence. Digital avatars known as Xiaohai, which translates to young boys, are manipulating elderly users with fabricated sob stories.

Dressed in school uniforms, these AI-generated teenagers call viewers "aunties and mothers" while begging them to buy heavily marked-up products.

According to South China Morning Post, in one viral clip, an avatar holds a steamed bun and claims he is hiding in the classroom to eat while his classmates have lunch.

Another video shows a boy allegedly being bullied in the rain, pleading with followers to purchase buckwheat cereal so he can hit a sales quota.

Behind the digital tears is a lucrative business model, with operators earning up to 55% in commissions

A bottle of cooking oil typically priced at 60 yuan (RM37) is sold by these digital avatars for 99 yuan (RM61).

Industry insiders report that creators using simple AI prompts can pocket between 2,000 yuan (RM1,230) and 3,000 yuan (RM1,840) a day.

The emotional toll on victims is severe, as lonely middle-aged and elderly users flood the comments with genuine affection

"Why are you only eating buns? Auntie-mummy's heart breaks for you," reads one voice comment left by a victim.

The manipulation recently drove a 79-year-old woman in Urumqi to travel alone by train to Shanxi province to meet a fake avatar. Officers intercepted the woman and sent her home after explaining that the boy was a digital fabrication.

"Many elderly people face extreme loneliness offline. They turn to digital consumption to fill an emotional void," Peking University professor Ma Liang told China Newsweek.

Tech-savvy youths are now fighting back by generating parodies, aiming to snap their parents back to reality. In these videos, 'Evil Xiaohai' avatars dressed in luxury clothing boast about exploiting their followers.

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