Nio warned owners on Sunday that scammers are sending fake “airbag recall” text messages in its name, as Beijing police said more than 20 car brands have been impersonated in a fraud that has cost one victim over 270,000 yuan ($40,500).
“Recently, criminals have used the names of Nio and the relevant regulators to send some users false text messages about an ‘airbag recall,'” the company said in a statement posted on Weibo by its official account to rebut rumors.
The messages carry unofficial links that push owners to submit personal information and complete fake recall procedures, it said.
Nio made three points. The texts and the documents attached to them are not recall notices issued by the company, and the recall information is false.
Owners should not click suspicious links, reply to the messages or give personal information or vehicle documents to unidentified parties.
Anyone who wants to check a recall should use the website of the Defective Product Recall Technical Center of China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), or Nio’s own channels.
“No official recall notice will ask users to submit private information through an unfamiliar text message,” Nio said, asking owners to contact its customer service if in doubt.
The statement does not say how many owners received the texts, whether any lost money or whether Nio has gone to the police.
A Two-Hour Deadline
Nio attached three examples, each stamped “fake.”
The first is a message that arrived through Apple’s iMessage from an unknown sender. It tells the recipient their car is covered by a Takata airbag recall and names the car’s license plate.
It says the vehicle’s warranty will be canceled if the recall is not carried out and tells the owner to contact customer service within two hours. It links to a web address that begins with “NIO” but sits on an unrelated domain.
The second is a forged letter on the letterhead of Shanghai Nio Automobile Co., with the company’s logo, a red seal and a QR code. It claims the market regulator required Nio to begin an urgent recall on November 1. The letter is dated November 15 and gives customer service hours of 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
The third is an imitation of a Nio login page that asks for a phone number and a verification code.
No Nio Recall in Latest Notices
The regulator’s recall center lists no Nio notice among its most recent vehicle recalls, which are dated November 13. Those include genuine recalls by Toyota, Ford, BMW, Stellantis and Beijing Benz, some of the same brands the scammers are imitating.
Nio’s two recalls this year involved software and steering, not airbags. In February, Shanghai Nio Automobile said it would fix a screen blackout issue on 246,229 first-generation ES8, ES6 and EC6 vehicles with a software update.
In September, Nio’s Anhui unit recalled 686 Firefly cars over a steering assist fault. That filing said owners would be contacted through the phone app, by text message and by telephone, so a genuine recall notice can arrive as a text.
More Than 20 Brands Hit
Beijing police said at a press conference on Friday that the fake recall scam has spread since the start of November.
“As of now, more than 20 car brands have been impersonated,” said Li Xiaoyan, Director of the Political Department of the Criminal Investigation Corps of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, according to Xinhua.
Police said the messages can show an owner’s name and license plate number and come with forged documents, imitation websites and QR codes.
One victim, identified as Ms. Zhang in a police account carried by Beijing Daily, clicked the link in a text about her car’s airbags and reached a copy of a carmaker’s website. A fake payment-network agent then had her install meeting software, share her screen and transfer money, and she lost more than 270,000 yuan.
A second owner, Mr. Ren, was asked to send 11 yuan ($1.65) as a test and then 50,000 yuan ($7,500). He became suspicious and reported the case.
“Official vehicle recalls only provide owners with free inspection and repair,” police said, adding that they involve no repair subsidies or refunds. Genuine notices are never sent from personal or overseas numbers.
Anyone who has clicked a link or shared a screen should disconnect from the internet, ask their bank to freeze the card and call the police, they said.
Carmakers Line Up
Nio is at least the 16th carmaker to issue a warning. Volkswagen‘s China unit and Li Auto did so on November 5, followed over the next two days by BMW, Aito, BYD, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, SAIC-GM, Volvo and Nissan.
Li Auto’s legal department said the airbag recall in the texts “is entirely fabricated.” It said owners were told to act within two hours or lose their warranty, the same wording now used against Nio. BMW said the notices carried forged seals of BMW China and BMW Brilliance.
BYD said the forged notice sent in its name cited a brake pedal defect, not airbags. That mirrors a genuine recall, as BYD recalled 183,211 cars in September over faulty brake pedal stoppers.
Aito said the texts threatened to cancel warranty service, and told owners who lost money to keep the messages as evidence and report to the police.
Tesla‘s customer service in China said on November 11 that a text claiming a recall with 2,800 yuan ($400) in compensation per car was a fraud, and that the company had sent no recall texts recently.
Great Wall Motor said it has reported the case to the police, after scammers posed as its Haval brand. Chery issued its warning on November 12 and Ford‘s China unit on November 13.
Ford said the seals and recall information were forged and that it reserves the right to take legal action. It said it notifies owners of recalls by registered mail and through its dealers.
Jaguar Land Rover’s China unit warned on November 9 that it will not ask customers to handle a recall through unofficial links or QR codes.
Real Recalls as Cover
The texts began circulating after SAMR published a batch of genuine recall notices on November 4 covering more than 800,000 vehicles from brands including Audi, Toyota, Volkswagen, Lexus, Mini, Lotus and Jeep.
The fake messages often include the owner’s name and license plate number, and sometimes the vehicle identification number, Securities Times reported. The example Nio published shows a plate number.
None of the companies has said how the senders obtained that data, how many owners were targeted or whether one group is behind the messages aimed at different brands.
It is not the first impostor warning from Nio this year. In January, a company executive said scammers were charging customers for fake early access to the ES9.
Nio delivered 34,246 vehicles in October, including 18,125 from the Nio brand, 8,383 from Onvo and 7,738 from Firefly.
Nio’s U.S.-listed shares closed at $2.90 on Friday, their lowest close since April 9, 2020. They are down 43.1% this year.
