On Chinese social media, people have also reported experiencing variations of the scam involving other corporate software apps, including Webex, a video conferencing platform owned by Cisco, and Cliq, a workplace communication app owned by the Indian software giant Zoho. Since February 2025, 71 percent of the over 150 reviews of Webex on Apple’s Chinese app store referenced being scammed on the platform, according to WIRED’s analysis. Cisco did not respond to a request for comment.
Sam Wunderl, a spokesperson for Zoho, says the company has identified “a limited number of instances involving scammers using Zoho Cliq to defraud victims.” The company says it uncovered the suspicious usage internally. As of August 27, Zoho says it disabled online payments to Cliq in China, suspended every account created by the suspected scammer it identified, and plans to discontinue the free version of Cliq in China going forward.
All Roads Go to Teams
According to dozens of victim accounts shared on Chinese social media platforms like Xiaohongshu and Douyin, the scammers look for new targets seemingly anywhere they can. They pose as job recruiters looking to fill open positions, prospective renters contacting landlords, potential dates on Tinder, and international buyers looking to source products from Chinese factories.
The scammers take advantage of Teams’ enterprise features by creating accounts for their targets and sending them pre-made login credentials. Because the scammers control the organization, they can deactivate the accounts once the scheme is over, wiping out victims’ access to chat histories that could be potentially used as evidence. To explain the unusual setup, scammers may tell victims they’re using work devices that only allow certain apps, or say they created a private Teams account just for the two of them to chat.
It turned out that some of the other victims who contacted Zhao had encountered the very same scammer she had. One was able to share Teams login credentials with her. This time, Zhao pretended to be a new potential victim in order to hopefully trick the scammer into providing more information about how his ruse worked.
She asked why he had to use Teams instead of WeChat, by far the most popular messaging app in China. The scammer claimed his colleagues could see his WeChat messages because he was on a work project, so Teams “is like our secret base together.” The account he gave Zhao, he said, was “for team members to contact family while on the project.”
“Can I ask a small question. What’s the special meaning about my account ‘joy20706905?’” Zhao asked, referring to the username he provided. “The account was assigned by the software when you purchase it from Microsoft,” he responded.
Zhao says when she was defrauded in May, Microsoft Teams didn’t alert her that the conversation she was having with the scammer might be dangerous. It was only when she talked to him again in August that the app started showing a banner that reads: “Don’t share confidential info or your screen with people you don’t know. Report anything suspicious.”
Why Teams?
In many ways, Microsoft Teams is an ideal app for fraudsters in China. Unlike Telegram or WhatsApp, it isn’t blocked by the government. And it has advanced tools like screen sharing and remote control that allow scammers to potentially gain more control over their victims’ devices. Most importantly, it’s a legitimate workplace communication app made by a trusted multinational tech company.
The same factors also apply to Webex. Tan Chenxin, a Chinese software engineer living in New York, says he was nearly defrauded earlier this week after he received a call from someone claiming to be working on a joint police investigation with US Customs and Border Protection and Chinese law enforcement. They asked Tan to download Webex and hop on a video call to discuss the situation. “I looked up Webex and found that it was developed by Cisco, a world-leading cybersecurity software provider,” Tan says. “I happen to know what Cisco is, so I convinced myself it was fine.”
