Revealing the Chaos of Online Emotional Counseling: AI Routines to Drain Traffic and High-priced Conversion Causes Secondary Damage

Nowadays, consulting services on the Internet under the banner of emotional recovery and emotional relationship repair have formed an assembly line: acquiring customers in batches through AI, setting up personal accounts to attract fans, and layering words to force orders, all linked together step by step. It is worth being vigilant that some "professional" emotional counselors packaged by some platforms not only cannot repair emotional relationships, but may even cause secondary psychological harm to the seekers.

At the end of August, Chengdu young woman Wang Min (pseudonym) broke up with her boyfriend. She was in a bad mood and searched for "emotional counseling" on social platforms, and many messages popped up. She clicked on a link, and a person who claimed to be a "senior emotional mentor" took the initiative to connect and conduct a clear analysis of her relationship status. However, after several conversations, Wang Min, who works in the Internet advertising industry, realized that the seemingly professional "tutor" on the other side of the screen was probably just an AI program.

Interviews with reporters from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily revealed that these so-called "emotional mentors" will not really listen to your emotional experiences, but will only use standardized words to gain trust. The purpose is to guide users to add private WeChat messages and facilitate orders and purchases. These consulting services have formed a mature assembly line, using AI to acquire customers in batches, setting up personal accounts to attract fans, and layering words to force orders. What's more, some platform organizations use sales tactics to accurately identify the emotional pain points of emotionally distressed people and constantly create anxiety in order to charge high service fees. Many people seeking help not only failed to repair their emotional relationships, but even suffered financial losses and psychological damage.

"Emotional consultant" focuses on sales

Wang Min became suspicious because the other party's reply was "too standard". No matter what she said, the other party always started with "I can feel your pain", followed by "This situation is really difficult", and then changed the topic: "Your situation is more complicated and it is not convenient to discuss it on a public platform. I suggest you add me on private WeChat."

She purposely sent contradictory messages, but the responses were still more or less the same. In Wang Min's view, this means that the person talking to him is not a real person, but an AI program equipped with preset speech skills. AI uses a seemingly professional tone to build trust, divert users to the private domain, and then recommend them to subsequent sales for "conversion and monetization."

The reporter added the WeChat ID pushed by AI and chatted with the so-called "teacher" for a few words, and the system launched paid packages such as "Telephone Diagnosis for 39.9 Yuan" and "Gold Medal Tutor Analysis for 99 Yuan".

Recently, as a job seeker, a reporter applied for the position of "emotional counselor" at an emotional consulting company in Guangzhou. A person in charge of recruitment bluntly introduced: "Consultants are, to put it bluntly, sales. The positions are divided into three levels: the first-line sales are responsible for attracting traffic on social platforms and guiding users to purchase low-priced diagnostic services for 99 yuan; the second-line sales follow up and wait for opportunities to sell long-term service packages worth thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan; and the third-line sales take on high-value complex cases."

According to the company's recruitment brochure, job applicants do not require a professional background in psychology or psychological counseling-related qualifications. Priority will be given to those with sales experience. The focus of onboarding training is not on psychological knowledge, but on communication skills, capturing users’ emotional pain points, and controlling the pace of placing orders.

The reporter added the artificial consultant of this emotional consulting company to find out whether the company is a formal psychological counseling agency. The consultant avoided answering this and only called it a "regular emotional consulting agency." He also claimed: "You can wait and see slowly, but your feelings cannot be consumed. Every moment of hesitation is widening the distance between us. When the connection is completely disconnected, there will be no chance of redress."

Information from Qichacha shows that most of these institutions are registered in the name of cultural media and cultural communication companies, and their business licenses mostly cover cultural planning, marketing, etc. A few are marked with "health consulting services (excluding diagnosis and treatment services)", and none of them are separately registered for psychological counseling-related business categories.

The rhetoric of "breakup and recovery" is intended to attract traffic at low prices and convert at high prices.

In October 2025, Li Jing (pseudonym), a white-collar worker in Shanghai, broke up with her boyfriend. When she was depressed, she searched for content related to "breakup recovery" on social platforms, and soon a person who claimed to be an "emotional recovery mentor" took the initiative to add her as a friend. The other party spoke very considerately: "Sister, I saw what you posted. You must be feeling very uncomfortable now, right? My sister also went through it back then. I understand you." After a few words, Li Jing let down her mental guard and felt empathy.

After two rounds of referrals from sales and preliminary contact with “teachers”, Li Jing came into contact with high-end service “teachers”. During the entire process, Li Jing paid two fees, totaling more than 17,000 yuan. The first payment was a "basic service fee" of 3,199 yuan, and the second payment was a "third-party intervention service fee" of more than 13,000 yuan. The other party emphasized that "you can't afford to be emotionally drained" and "every moment of hesitation is widening the distance between us" and kept urging the order to be placed.

After the payment was made, the agency contacted Li Jing's ex-boyfriend and carried out a so-called "recovery" operation. However, some intervention made the other party even more disgusted.

"After we broke up, our relationship was not too tense. After they acted like this, my ex directly blocked me." Li Jing was angry and helpless, but the agency continued to sell her "offline on-site mediation services" priced at 100,000 yuan.

The reporter combed through recruitment information for similar positions in many places and found that the "low-price attracting traffic, high-price converting" model has become the norm in the industry. A training material from a consulting company in Guangzhou marked the key points of sales speech: when users hesitate, use phrases such as "time is running out", "if you miss it, it will be lost" and "others are already taking action" to create anxiety; when users question the effect, use vague sentence patterns such as "everyone's situation is different", "need your cooperation" and "we have succeeded in many cases" to respond and respond.

Recruitment information shows that such organizations give priority to practitioners with experience in medical beauty, insurance, education, training and sales. There are no requirements for psychology-related qualifications. The core indicator for employee evaluation is transaction performance.

Don’t let the so-called “emotional counseling” turn into secondary harm

In September 2025, Zhao Lei (pseudonym), who was troubled by her relationship, contacted psychological counselor Zhang on social platforms. Zhang's account continues to update content on sentiment analysis and relationship repair, and he seems to have rich experience in the industry. The two parties agreed to provide monthly consulting services at a cost of 1,980 yuan per month. During the follow-up service period, Zhao Lei transferred a total of nearly 20,000 yuan.

But during the actual consultation process, Zhao Lei noticed many abnormalities. Zhang asserted that Zhao Lei has a "bipolar disorder tendency" and attributed her emotional problems to defects in her native family. After that, Zhang repeatedly borrowed money from Zhao Lei on the grounds of personal financial constraints, frequently asked for souvenirs, and also asked Zhao Lei to help order takeout. She said to Zhao Lei: "We are not just a consultation relationship, but also friends."

In the later stages, the consultation turned into mental suppression. As long as Zhao Lei fails to act according to the other party's words or raises objections, she will be denied and criticized. After each consultation, Zhao Lei had to review the conversation repeatedly and fell into greater psychological distress.

At the end of May 2026, Zhao Lei proposed a refund to Zhang. The other party's response surprised her: "You can refund, but you have to make up the consultation price difference at the standard of 1,800 yuan/hour." This means that Zhao Lei not only cannot get a refund, but also has to pay extra. Zhao Lei chose to call the police. The police said that this was a civil dispute and suggested that it be resolved through litigation. Zhao Lei is worried that her address, contact information and other private information will be in the hands of the other party, and the lawsuit will bring trouble to her.

The reporter contacted the consultant named Zhang. Zhang insisted that he provided formal services and presented a "Basic Training Certificate for Psychological Counselors" issued by the Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

An insider in the psychological counseling industry said that such certificates only represent that students have completed basic training courses and passed exams. They are certificates of completion, not professional qualification certificates, and cannot be used as a basis for independent practice of paid psychological counseling services. He pointed out that there are multiple risks in carrying out psychological consultation only with basic training certificates. Such personnel generally lack systematic clinical training and do not have regular professional supervision. It is difficult to guarantee the professionalism and standardization of consultation, and it is easy to cause secondary psychological harm to visitors.

Qiao Ying, chief physician of the Shanghai Mental Health Center, said that frustration in emotional relationships will affect people's sense of security and self-worth. People in this state are "like a drowning person who instinctively wants to catch things floating over." The attraction of online emotional services lies in their "instant availability", but "grabbing when drowning is often blind, and risks arise from this."

Qiao Ying has been exposed to many similar cases: After receiving online emotional guidance, not only did the emotional problems remain unresolved, but the seekers fell into deeper self-doubt and denial. In order to quickly establish authority, some unqualified "emotional mentors" give some absolute judgments. It is easy for help seekers in a psychologically fragile period to "accept them all" and internalize them into self-awareness.

Qiao Ying reminded that to identify whether psychological help channels are reliable, you can refer to several rigid standards: regular psychotherapists must have nationally certified psychiatrists or registered psychotherapist qualifications, rather than "three-day quick" training certificates; professional counselors will not urge clients to buy expensive long-term packages, and will not make absolute judgments and conclusions on seekers. “Psychiatric hospitals, psychology departments of public tertiary hospitals, university psychological counseling centers, and the national unified psychological assistance hotline 12356 are all safe and reliable channels.”

Currently, Zhao Lei is sorting out chat records, transfer vouchers and other evidence and preparing to protect her rights through legal means. She hopes to use her own experience to remind young people: "Keep your eyes open, learn more about it, and seek professional and effective psychological support."

China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily reporters Liu Yinheng and Zou Junqi Source: China Youth Daily