A look at a thriving underground economy for Claude access in China, including "transfer station" sites that buy API tokens abroad and distribute them to users
As Anthropic tightens restrictions on access to Claude in China, users keep finding new workarounds, from proxy services to fake identities sourced on Telegram.
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China's Black Market for Claude Access Is Booming
Underground 'transfer stations' are reselling Anthropic's Claude API tokens to Chinese users despite tightening restrictions.
Anthropic keeps locking down Claude access in China. Chinese users keep finding ways around it. A thriving underground economy has emerged to bridge the gap.
So-called "transfer station" sites are purchasing Claude API tokens from outside China and redistributing them domestically. It's a full-blown gray market pipeline — buy abroad, sell at home, repeat.
The workarounds don't stop there. Proxy services route traffic to dodge geographic restrictions. Fake identities, sourced through Telegram channels, let users bypass verification entirely. Every time Anthropic plugs one hole, another opens.
The cat-and-mouse game highlights a fundamental tension: demand for frontier AI models doesn't respect borders. Chinese developers and researchers want Claude badly enough to build an entire shadow infrastructure around getting it.
Anthropic hasn't commented on specific countermeasures beyond its existing access policies.