Possible scam in Beijing

First of all, I greet all the participants in the forum as a new member and I'm sorry if I wrote so long. But I think it cloud be very interesting

I try to explain what just happened to me, to get opinions about it and to warn of possible scams.

I am a craftsman in Italy and a Chinese client of mine would visit me from time to time to buy. She, very beautiful, had been making sweet eyes for a while, and one day I told her that I was thinking of leaving my shop, and she immediately proposed that I come to work for her. So the next time, I offered her a dinner date. The dinner was short-lived and she told me that she is rich and sells a lot in her shop, has several employees and works a lot, she likes money a lot and has never had time for a man. He tells me that his idea is that I go there to become a 50/50 team. It basically made me think that her idea was to go there and work together and also become her partner, because it was difficult for her ootherwise.In China she's a lefty, 43 divorced with a son it's not what men are looking for. The first thing I had to do was go to her in Beyjing to see. I said why not? I hadn't taken a vacation for a long time.

So ten days ago, I left for Beyjing. When I got there, I realized that the store was not the one for the photos, less well-kept and smaller. Okay. I find that they don't have physical customers even if they're on a passing road. But upstairs, he takes me to see his station online. Two cameras, lights and software to change the connotations very invasive. It basically tells me that they actually sell a lot online, with live streams on doujin, they make millions, she says, but I don't see packages ready to ship, and the store has little products ready to ship.  She says he does a lot of direct a day and usually ends at three o'clock at night. But she never made me watch a live broadcast, and I was not able to see them because in my phone I do not have chinese doujin, so no streaming directs. . Along with her, a little computer technician, two girls in their 30s who wear necklaces, and a 16-year-old girl who says she mounts necklaces but is practically incapable.

She was always at work these days, always very busy, her mother in those days up and down the hospital and practically I met alone with her only a couple of time. Never a kiss or a romantic dinner. While I was often with his son, a sweet 12-year-old boy whose mother immediately entrusted me with going around the city. The boy, on the first day, insists that we take a picture together and shortly afterwards takes out another identical picture to show me , but his father was in my place. Same layout, same color, it looked like it was made by the same machine. I ask him where his father is and the boy said that his father is away for work and that he is bankrupt. Thanks Pan. The mother, on the other hand, says that they have been separated for 15 years and that she lives far away. Okay.

The mother keeps asking me questions about my financial and social status, it seemed like the inquisition, but when I ask her directly what we are talking about, she is vague, but she still rejects any courtship such as messages or romantic dinners. Basically, I would first have to demonstrate my skills at work, then we would have to talk about something else. But even when it comes to work, it doesn't speak precisely, it's always very smoky. Basically, I should have given up everything and gone there on trust, she insists that she wants to help me, and she never asked me for money. This seems too good to be true and too naive to attract attention.

So one day I recorded the little boy in a taxi talking to his father because he seemed particularly panicked. At home, I was able to translate a couple of sentences from the child in which he spoke of being manipulated as usual. We had a couple of small discussions when I insisted that she had to be clearer, that being too vague I have difficulty understanding and therefore trusting, that it is so easy for me to think about the worst situation, but she does not seem to want to communicate more, offended that I took her for a cheater. When she sees me moving away, she makes me sweet eyes, then she becomes an popsicle, and she shows up untreated and with his hair in the wind.

So, week over, I'm coming home. As I said, I translated the audio of the recording and started worrying about the child. There was a dot that I couldn't get out of my head, the streaming station so I'd seen it before, and it seemed too strange to me to really do so many a day, and she also told me that the technician uses vpn, but if they only broadcasts in China, she wouldn't need it. This online sales channel actually also includes other female salespeople like her, in practice they are all under the same brand, but they have separate channels. His channel had 280 followers, too little to live there, and I never saw any packages ready to send.

So I searched through the Chinese camgirls, and after half an hour, I think I found her. Same exact body type,  same hair and hair color, the same fake nails that she wore in those days, but if I go to see the old videos, the nails are not there, the same way to move and talk, even if she speaks Japanese in the videos, and the same gaze, the same eyes, unforgetable for me because it was the thing I liked more. The only cam girl who had a mask to cover her mouth. So first I write in the video chat by inserting my real name and calling it by its name which is Summer, because the real name I don't know and it says to be called that by everyone, even if the 16ys girl once ran away from calling her Liu. She seems to have noticed my comment live and also the moderators who immediately commented on her watching the comments several times. After two minutes, technical problems and the video falls. But I find the live broadcast with the same name on another platform. This time I write to her on wechat, she responds immediately, which she has rarely done but my calls are blocked, she wrote also that that evening she was not streaming.

she calls me back exactly 5 minutes after the 1 hours live broadcast is over. I explain my concerns to her gently and she becomes enraged. For me, it was really too many coincidences.

In the end, it blocked me everywhere, I have to say that I was too impulsive and I wrote to her many times, guys, I was really furious she didn't want to understand my reasons and just seemed offended. Meanwhile, the old videos from the channels have all disappeared the day after. But I noticed that the time this lady go on air coincide perfectly with the times when she was always busy. And finish at shortly before 3 a.m. in Beyjing.  Another coincidence. You can only see now the live broadcasts when on air.  Now I'm worried about her son, because if that were the case, she would be a crook who uses a 12-year-old boy for her own purposes. And because I sent her a picture of my passport to get a ticket to the lost city online.

What do you say? Am I too cynical or is it clearly a scam? Should I report it to the authorities? I don't understand what the scam might have been, maybe doing the company with me and then running away with debt, or asking me for money once there to get into this online sales channel. I also thought he was looking for a partner for his hot videos, because after I said I'm not this kind of man who is looking for sex so much, they all looking each other in a strange way and after that day she looks like she loose interest on me a bit 😉 I really don't know, for sure Chinese women are not easy at all. 

Yes you all have right. But it's a bit complicated than this... never had an interest for Asians because easy women. Never had an interested for Asian women in general. I frequented the forum since I was interest in Chinese culture, before all this. But never subscribed and never need to write before.

I was thinking to leave Italy, I always liked her, so when I said to her I was looking for other place she asked me to go to work for her. I'm a particular person, as she is. I'm having a hard time believing it wasn't all a set-up. But at the same time, I'd feel awful thinking about accusing her of something like that if it weren't her or if she hadn't had bad intentions. As you said Apoc I'll never know.

But believe me I'm not the kind of man who run from a country to another only because a woman makes me some appreciations. So before she asked me to go there I never try with her, because of this. But she seemed to really like me too.

I have no problem finding a woman; but I'd prefer a woman I like, and unfortunately, that rarely happens. This could have been an opportunity to try, why not? After all, I spent a week in Beijing.

And after all the problem it's not if she is a cam girl or not, she was alone in the room, not a big problem for me. But that if the money she makes came from there it means that she was thinking of scamming me in some way, and she used his 12-year-old son to do it. It's only me that think that this is really a bad thing to do?

And yes, there are many scams that can be done with passports, I would not like to be unable to go to China in the future because they have registered me some company full of debts. But at the same time I do not want to damage her, even if it was as I think. I don't think she asked me the passport photo for this purpose. But did I have to risk it? 

Moderator note: paragraph breaks added.

I'm sorry you understand in this way. I have no negative prejudice against Chinese people or Chinese culture at all. That's why I gladly went. Besides, all the Chinese people I know are good and friendly. They would never do things like this. I only answered a message. But since I don't know Chinese culture and traditions in depth, I wrote to get the opinion of those who do. It's important to me also to warn other people who may encounter similar situations. I'm not a stupid, I'm 43 and I had a lot of situations in my life I believe I can handle it. If I was wrong I can not imagine how many other people can get scam like this.

I don't know if it's normal in China, for example, to introduce one's child so easily into relationships of any kind. If this had happened in Italy with an Italian woman, I would definitely have filed a complaint. First, because it's unacceptable for me that a mother manipulates her 12-year-old son for illegal purposes, and second, because she'll probably try it again with someone else. "Bad mother"? A missing mother is a bad mother, a mother who put his son through a stranger asking him to fake affect is something really worst than bad. Anyone I know would do the same.

Besides, whether she's a camgirl or not doesn't matter to me. That's not the issue. I managed to find her name, but I certainly can't do it here, and from the looks of it, more people could be involved. I know there is a 16ys girl who works for her and I do not understand what is her job. I'm not even angry now; I'm just trying to understand how serious the situation is. 

Moderator note: paragraph breaks added.

Hi, I’m Chinese and stumbled across your thread. Your story is fascinating, and I hope my perspective as a local can shed some light.

At first, I thought this might be a classic “pig butchering” scam, common in China, especially targeting foreigners. It typically works in three stages:

1. Building trust: Using romance or fake business opportunities (like her “million-dollar livestream business”) to hook you.
2. “Fattening the pig”: Convincing you to abandon your shop in Italy and move to China, where she might ask for money to “join the business” (e.g., buying equipment or investing in fake platforms like crypto or e-commerce apps).
3. “Slaughtering the pig”: Taking your money and vanishing.

But some details don’t quite fit. You met her in person, saw her shop, employees, and even her son—most pig butchering scams avoid such close real-world contact to stay anonymous. Then you mentioned finding her as a camgirl streaming in Japanese, which is a twist. If you communicated in English, she’s likely well-educated, speaking at least two foreign languages. In China, women with that background rarely do adult livestreams due to the heavy social stigma.

What concerns me most is the studio’s staff, especially the 16-year-old girl. If they’re involved in adult content (on or off camera), that’s illegal in China, especially for a minor. The recording of her son talking about being “manipulated” raises red flags about a possible larger operation, maybe even tied to exploitation or illegal labor. That’s deeply troubling.

On the flip side, there’s a chance things aren’t so sinister. Raising a son alone in Beijing is tough—living costs are sky-high. She might do legitimate livestreams (like selling products) during the day and illegal adult livestreams at night to make ends meet. Her intense focus on your finances could just be her sizing you up as a potential long-term partner. The “manipulation” in the recording might be a translation error or the kid venting.

Still, one thing’s clear: she lied to you and is likely involved in illegal activities. In China, profiting from pornographic content (Disseminating Pornographic Materials for Profit) is a serious crime, with penalties up to years in prison. If she’s running an adult livestream ring, especially with minors involved, she could face even heavier charges. I strongly advise against joining her livestreams or any business and recommend cutting all contact.

Thanks a lot chaos03x.   I'm really struggling now to understand what happened to me. I'm not sure she's the one of the sexcam to be clear.  In the past I had this situation with my ex's niece in Spain 5 years ago. Her partner forced her to stream all day and beat her. They had 2 twins together, and he threatened to go to Morocco with them and never let her see them again. Her partents was not interested to help, so I had to intervene with my gf and get the police involved. Now he's in prison. When I saw the cameras, she's busy all day, and I can't find all the live streams she claims to do, I couldn't help but think of this. There are so many coincidences that make me think it's her, so many, but I also know it might not be the case. After all, it would be a huge coincidence to find her among thousands too. I wrote the initial post lightly and was still angry, maybe I do not explained very well. I was really worried for her son. Probably I was suggested by my bad experience. There is a thing that I'm not able to explain, she have a big old tatoo of a dragon on all her shoulders, but not the cam girl. I thought you can hide with premiere or other software but a friend of mine said to me it doesn't work well live and you would see some flickering. Maskering with products in a situation like that , naked, it sounds impossible.  Anyway everything was really strange to me, and the more I think about it, the less I understand how she would have scammed me. She knew I'm not rich and that the only valuable things are in my parents' names. She seemed genuinely interested in her son getting something, and I can understand that. She's definitely not poor, she's educated and her son is too, also a very good school.  I'm not even angry; it's more complicated than that. She's not replying to my messages anymore, and I have no way of knowing if there really was something going on or not. Now, I'm not the type who falls in love as soon as a pretty girl makes eyes at him. I have women who makes sweet eyes here without having to fly to the other side of the world. There's something about her that deeply attracts me, but it's something that lies beneath the surface. And I've led a peculiar life, and I think I'm quite capable of understanding people, and even if she was hiding something, there's definitely something good about her, which is what I was attracted to. But I also know that she is not only this.  My best friend was a scammer, got to jail.  I've never been involved in illegal activities, but I know the people and the environment. Maybe she don't know the world well, and she doesn't realize how paradoxical the situation she's put me in is. She truly seems to live in an illusory world of social networks and appearances, and she struggles to get emotionally involved. It seemed to me that she was very involved with social media, being an influencer after all. Many of the conversations seemed to come from TikTok. She said she never felt the necessity to have a partner, after she divorced, but now she's feeling alone.  Only her son and his work. That she's 43 and choosing a man is not something emotional. I don't know what she's been through, but I think it's a form of protection. There's also a huge cultural divide; I don't know enough about Chinese culture to fully understand her behavior in detail. I mean, maybe she doesn't really realize that the way she presented the matter is bound to raise concerns. It's possible that it was just a lack of awareness on her part, asking me to come there without considering the implications. I certainly shouldn't have accused her of something like that without having anything concrete to prove, but I was seriously worried about the boy for the reason I explained earlier. He seemed truly lonely and had grown fond of me, and I did the same with him. As you said all this is very similar to a scam is used a lot. Not difficult to think of it.  And every person I speak immediately sayd was a scam.  But I know where her shop is, I have her sale channel she use, I have a lot of photos of her and her team. I probably know her chinese name. So for me it's really easy to go to police and I know in China they do not go easy with this. If when I was there she started asking me for money I would have reported her. But how does is possible a 43 years woman do not know that all this it could be read as a scam. Why she do not simply answered my questions? Before things become bigger. How can you ask someone you do not know well to come to Cina, make a 50/50 businees because maybe you want a man and this is the only way possible, working together, because you do not have time, amd at the same time helping my business because you sell a lot. She said to me chinese men do not want a woman like her because she's too idipendent, she do not cook, etc. It sound crazy to me. Everytime I tried to openly speak she totally blocked herself. Too much emotional she said. But at the same time she asked me to be strong and think less. What I really struggle with is remaining in doubt. It's stronger than me, but I also know there's no way to find out except from her. I'm sorry, You have right I have to forgot and pass over, but what makes me feel the most bad is doubt. 

The truth of all this might never be clear, but from what I can see, she’s at the very least a self-centered person. She casually invited you to fly thousands of miles to China, yet didn’t even bother to properly host you (you didn’t even have a single dinner together), nor did she sit down for an honest, face-to-face talk to clear up the tension between you. Building a close relationship with someone like that would only lead to hurt, especially with such a vast cultural gap.

In this regard, she’s not even as good as a real scammer—they’d at least make you feel happy and valued before trying to take your money.

I am struggling to understand this story 😭 she obviously has money if she is able to visit you in Italy multiple times to make purchases, I think the son telling you that his dad and her are seperated because he is broke is also true, but I do not understand why you decide to search online cam girls for her instead of just on douyin, at what point did you believe she was a cam girl? And why after 30 minutes of searching you decide you have found her even though the cam girl does not have the massive dragon tattoo she has (and is also speaking japanese, did she ever indicate to you that she spoke japanese)? You being blocked on everything may not be because you have discovered a scam but instead because you accused a woman you've been with for ten days of being a cam girl. Unlike @abcdefg there is a shred of doubt in my mind that this woman is a scammer, but it is hard to say and I believe it's best to forget your relationship with her.

Similar experience, I thought I knew her for 3 years.. I don't know how long you met this lady. 

But same outcome, a little worse on my end. At least she has a son to provide for. Trust me it can end badly for a scammer too, especially if they get caught up in corporate scamming. 

It opened my eyes to the industrial scale scamming outfits who are legitimate global businesses as a front. 

I was the total opposite I genuinely had a interest in China since birth, my schoolmate from kindergarten to 8th grade was Chinese. It was a very small school and we were always paired seating together. No interest in each other, just childhood friends.

Anyways, we live and learn. Try not to let it affect your future or judgement of Asia.