AI-powered money-makers that are illegal, grey or locked behind a licence in many places. The rules depend on where you live. Worth recognising, so you can steer clear or spot them being used on you.
Ordered by the money we could see, biggest first. Figures we checked ourselves come before ones someone else claims. The summary is free; each find's full story is for subscribers.
Showing 21 of 21 entries.
Know the risks. Ordered by the money we could see, biggest first. Figures we checked ourselves come before ones someone else claims.
The biggest profits on Polymarket's board belong to bots trading around the clock. The top one lost money in its latest 30 days. Blocked in some countries, including Australia.
At least 56 sites with made-up local business names all send calls to one tracked number, and the calls are sold on. Inventing a local business misleads consumers.
Agencies text each target business a demo page named after it. Cold texting without consent breaks anti-spam laws in many places, such as Australia's. The demo itself is lawful.
A coin listed on Upbit jumps about 20% within 5 minutes, then fades. The back-test paid but the edge is shrinking; the futures it needs are not lawful everywhere.
When the rules favoured one side, it won 87% of the time three days out. That is only 15 markets, a lead, not proof. Blocked in some countries, including Australia.
It takes buyers' money before any work is done, names no operator and shows no licence. Outsiders paid about 1.6 USDC over 19 days, and no victim was found.
An aggregator shows about 10-12% a year with almost no drawdown. It has not been verified on-chain, and a curve that flat can be smoothed or hide other positions.
Of 148 bettors tested, 19 kept beating the closing odds on fresh data, while the whole group lost money. Such books are blocked in some countries, including Australia.
Roughly 7 pumps of 20% or more happen each day across thin coins, and prices tended to fall back afterwards, so chasers lose. What the pumpers earn is unknown.
One billing desk in the UAE runs a portfolio of quiz-to-subscription apps, several about health, all pointing to a shared refund page. What the portfolio earns is unknown.
The chatbot says it is human and that nobody runs it, offers 10 free messages, then asks for payment. California requires companion bots to say they are AI.
Identical alert sites sit on 4 random hosts and steer visitors into Telegram groups. Financial advice needs a licence in many countries, including Australia, and what they earn is unknown.
They rewrite AI text to slip past detectors or give students homework answers. The field is crowded with big incumbents, and it helps academic misconduct. What it earns is unknown.
Marketplace sellers run plagiarism checks through institutional accounts for outsiders, which misuses the institution's licence. No prices or volumes were recorded.
The tracker's second-ranked seller showed $9,736 in a month, but a read of the public ledger pointed to nearly all of it coming from the seller's own funding.
7 more are left out on purpose, because they point at private individuals or we cannot back them up. Everything here is for awareness, never instruction.