BEIJING — China’s biggest e-commerce platforms this month began tightening refund checks after merchants reported a surge of AI-generated “damage” photos used to trigger quick reimbursements. Sellers say the latest AI refund scams are exploiting consumer-friendly programs meant for low-value and perishable orders, pushing platforms to demand clearer proof and curb automatic payouts, Dec. 22, 2025.
On China’s social app RedNote, sellers have circulated claims that look believable until you zoom in: torn fabric with unnatural “layers,” cracked ceramics that appear ripped like paper, and shipping labels filled with nonsense characters. In one case, a seller wrote, “This is a ceramic cup, not a cardboard cup,” after receiving a photo that didn’t match how ceramics break, as WIRED reported.
Complaints also spiked around the Double 11 shopping festival, when merchants said refund requests arrived in waves with “evidence” attached. Some buyers appeared to take real photos and then use AI tools to make fruit look moldy or rotten, according to a South China Morning Post report.
How AI refund scams are rewriting the returns playbook
Many AI refund scams lean on speed and volume: fake “proof” can be generated in seconds, while platform reviewers and customer service teams often have limited time to scrutinize a claim. The risk is highest where returns are commonly waived to save shipping costs — fresh produce, low-cost beauty items and other goods that are hard to resell.
A recent China Daily report described a fresh-produce seller who filmed packaging each shipment but still faced refund requests backed by photos showing fruit as rotten or bug-infested. The seller’s daughter, Chen Xiaowei, said, “I noticed a watermark-like trace in the corner of one photo,” suggesting it had been altered. The report cited Beihang University law professor Zhao Jingwu, who said using AI to falsify evidence for refunds can be considered fraud under China’s Civil Code and described a crab-delivery case that ended with an eight-day detention and recovery of the refund.
Merchants say the practical response is more documentation, not less commerce: longer, continuous unboxing videos that show the shipping label and product condition in one uninterrupted take, plus clearer shots of serial numbers and packaging. The goal is to make AI refund scams harder to scale without turning every honest refund into a fight.
Rules tighten as “refund-only” gives way to merchant control
The AI surge is colliding with a broader rollback of “refund without return” practices that have long angered sellers. In April, Reuters reported that Chinese authorities told platform operators to stop forcing merchants to refund customers without requiring returns and gave the industry until July 2025 to end the practice.
In a separate April update, China Daily reported that major platforms including Taobao, Pinduoduo and JD would scrap the “refund-only” policy and leave post-delivery refund requests to merchants, limiting when platforms step in.
The fight over refunds predates generative AI — and helps explain why AI refund scams found such fertile ground. In 2023, Rest of World documented how Pinduoduo’s returnless refund model pushed some merchants to sue buyers after repeated losses. In July 2024, Business Insider reported that suppliers protested at Temu’s Guangzhou office, arguing that fines and refund policies were destroying profits for small merchants.
For China’s online marketplaces, the next phase may be a more “verified” refund process: less trust in single photos, more reliance on continuous video, and greater scrutiny of repeat claimants. Whether those steps restore confidence may hinge on one question — can platforms stop AI refund scams without making honest refunds feel like a courtroom?
