Microsoft Teams Has Become a Haven for Scammers in China | WIRED

Overview

Microsoft Teams Has Become a Haven for Scammers in China

Zhao, a 30-something woman living in Beijing, says she lost over $100,000 in May to a romance scammer who claimed to be a researcher working for Microsoft. After initially chatting Zhao up on the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu, he asked to move their conversation to Microsoft Teams, where he was happy to provide her with an account and password she could use.

Details

“I didn’t think much because I had used this app before. And since it was developed by Microsoft, I kind of trusted it,” says Zhao, who requested to use only her last name for privacy reasons.

Once they switched to Teams, the scammer began promising to build a future with Zhao when they eventually got together and introduced her to a cryptocurrency investment project, which he said would turn a profit much faster than trading stocks. Zhao says that at first, she was excited about the opportunity, and even took out loans from several banks so she could invest more.

After Zhao began talking about her experience on social media, she says she started hearing from dozens of other people in China who have fallen prey to the same scheme. They claim to have lost anywhere from

1,500 to

300,000, and only one reported that they were able to recover some of the funds—by tracking down the recipient’s bank account.

For years, alleged scam victims have been writing angry reviews of Microsoft Teams on Chinese app stores, some warning others not to download it. WIRED analyzed the past 18 months of reviews of Teams on Apple’s Chinese app store, and found that out of 500, 30 percent included explicit complaints about scammers. The oldest review calling out scams dated all the way back to 2022.

“The scammers had me register for this app so they could contact me, and they defrauded me of RMB 1.48 million [$220,000]. The police have opened a case,” reads one review from January of this year. “This was unquestionably a ‘pig-butchering’ scam. Beware of fraud—this was a bitter and costly lesson!”

Microsoft says scammers routinely exploit trusted brands and communication platforms to carry out social engineering schemes. As these tactics evolve, the company says it “investigates reports of abuse, takes action against accounts that violate our policies, and continues to strengthen protections designed to identify and disrupt fraudulent activity,” Steven Masada, the global head of Microsoft’s digital crimes division, said in a statement to WIRED.

In June, Microsoft started displaying a general warning banner to Teams users in China cautioning them about common scams and urging them to be careful when sharing sensitive information. The company also discontinued the personal version of Teams in China, and the service is now only available in the country through enterprise accounts.

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.

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.

She asked why he had to use Teams instead of We Chat, by far the most popular messaging app in China. The scammer claimed his colleagues could see his We Chat 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 ‘joy 20706905?’” 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.”

In many ways, Microsoft Teams is an ideal app for fraudsters in China. Unlike Telegram or Whats App, 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.”

Luckily, he realized it was a scam and hung up before transferring any money. Tan says he couldn’t find a way to easily report the scammer’s account to Webex.

Compared to Chinese messaging apps, which have had to deal with rampant investment fraud scams for years, Western platforms appear less prepared to combat the issue. Apps like We Chat and Xiaohongshu, for example, frequently flag scam risks to users when they detect keywords related to investments and payments, including in private conversations. Even WIRED’s chats with scam victims on Xiaohongshu triggered repeated warnings as they recounted how they had been defrauded.

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Key Takeaways

Microsoft Teams Has Become a Haven for Scammers in China
Zhao, a 30-something woman living in Beijing, says she lost over $100,000 in May to a romance scammer who claimed to be a researcher working for Microsoft
“I didn’t think much because I had used this app before
Once they switched to Teams, the scammer began promising to build a future with Zhao when they eventually got together and introduced her to a cryptocurrency investment project, which he said would turn a profit much faster than trading stocks
After Zhao began talking about her experience on social media, she says she started hearing from dozens of other people in China who have fallen prey to the same scheme