AI Stock Picking Software Service Fee Scam: Unlicensed stock-picking software exploits "precision stock picking" pitches to harvest annual fees

Who Gets Targeted

Primary victims are middle-aged and young retail investors as well as newly retired senior stock investors who possess some savings but lack systematic financial knowledge. Most are lured while browsing short videos featuring "AI monthly return doubling" content. Believing in technological myths and unfamiliar with verifying licensed institutional qualifications, they experience fear of missing out upon seeing real-time refreshing "stock picks" in software interfaces and profit screenshots shared by group members. Under time-limited discounts and "limited slots" tactics, they impulsively pay thousands to tens of thousands of yuan in annual service fees. After suffering losses, they are guided to upgrade to more expensive "internal newsletter editions" for secondary harvesting.

骗局怎么运作

• Step 1: Traffic Generation. Operating teams publish short videos on platforms like Douyin and Kuaishou demonstrating AI stock-picking trials, paired with historical bull-stock hit clips and fake backtest curves. Plants are arranged in the comment sections to post profit screenshots with pitches such as "Turn your fortunes around in three months of AI trading; retail investors can also use institutional-grade tools," directing traffic to direct messages and customer service WeChat accounts.
• Step 2: Building Groups and Cultivating Trust. Victims are pulled into so-called "AI quantitative communication groups," where dozens of accounts in the group are actually operated by the same syndicate. They regularly publish software stock-picking results and forged limit-up records every day. "Teachers" explain things under the guise of market reviews, creating a collective illusion that the tool truly has a winning rate, mechanism-wise exploiting the herd mentality to suppress individual skepticism.
• Step 3: Time-Limited Conversion. Customer service claims the software originally costs tens of thousands of yuan, but with a limited-time discount today, it only costs a few thousand yuan to activate the "AI Precision Stock Picking" annual service. Pitches include "Only three slots left this week, miss out and wait until next year," accompanied by promises that "buying and selling following the signals guarantees profit," using a sense of urgency to block victims from having time to verify qualifications.
• Step 4: Delivering White-Label Software. After payment, victims are required to download an app not listed on mainstream app stores. The interface looks professional, but the stock-picking content is mostly stitched-together public information or generated with historical data hindsight bias. The so-called AI model has no disclosed strategies or audits. After losses occur, they are charged more under the pretext that "the broader market conditions are poor, and upgrading to the advanced version will unlock the winning rate."
• Step 5: Disappearance and Rebranding. After accumulating enough complaints or receiving regulatory attention, the syndicate shuts down the original app and groups, replaces the brand name and icon, and relaunches the same software under a new identity within two weeks. The original customer service accounts are deregistered, and victim payment records point to personal accounts or shell companies, making it difficult to lock down the actual operating entity when seeking rights protection.

红旗信号（看到这些快跑）

• 🚩 Claiming extremely high win rates for AI stock picking, fixed monthly returns, or "guaranteed profits without loss"—legitimate licensed institutions are prohibited by law from promising returns.
• 🚩 Payment recipients are personal WeChat or Alipay accounts, or shell companies mismatched with the software name, unable to issue formal invoices.
• 🚩 The app is not listed on mainstream app stores and must be downloaded and installed via links or QR codes privately sent by customer service.
• 🚩 Staff cannot provide a securities investment consulting business qualification ID, and searching the CSRC official website yields no corresponding licensed records.
• 🚩 A large number of accounts in the group simultaneously post profit screenshots with identical phrasing, and members raising doubts are immediately kicked out of the chat group.
• 🚩 Pressuring victims into same-day payment under the pretext of limited-time discounts and tight quotas, while refusing to allow contract review or a cooling-off period.

真实案例

• On January 30, 2026, the Jiangsu Securities Regulatory Bureau issued a risk warning naming lawbreakers packaging illegal services and fake software using concepts such as "AI stock picking," "big data stock diagnosis," and "quantitative trading," claiming precision stock picking and automated trading to induce investors to pay for so-called high-tech products. This warning serves as a regulatory definition of the operating methods for this type of scam.
• Reported by Securities Times on July 9, 2026: Lawbreakers diverted traffic from Douyin to a certain app, inducing investors to join a chat group named "Shenwan Hongyuan Business School 158." Individuals in the group claiming to be staff induced downloads of counterfeit trading software. Police in multiple locations have filed cases regarding such forged investment advisory software. The report did not disclose specific victim names.
• An investigative report by the media column "Financial 315" on March 14, 2026, stated that interviewed investors told reporters that the profits of some so-called AI quantitative stock trading platforms were merely backend-modified numbers, and interviewees found they could not withdraw cash after paying service fees and topping up to follow trades. Interviewees in the report appeared under pseudonyms, and real names were not disclosed.
• In December 2020, the CSRC imposed administrative penalties on Shanghai Yuyou Information Technology Co., Ltd. (formerly Shanghai Securities Star Comprehensive Research Co., Ltd.), determining that it developed and sold stock-picking software, entrusted unqualified personnel to act as sales agents, and engaged in exaggerated and misleading promotion. It decided to confiscate illegal gains of 24.136 million yuan and impose a fine of 48.272 million yuan, totaling 72.41 million yuan in confiscations and fines. (Source: [https://finance.sina.cn/stock/jdts/2020-12-22/detail-iiznctke7782529.d.html?vt=4&cid=76993&node_id=76993](https://finance.sina.cn/stock/jdts/2020-12-22/detail-iiznctke7782529.d.html?vt=4&cid=76993&node_id=76993))
• In February 2025, Shanghai Songjiang police solved an illegal securities investment consulting business case based on citizen report clues, arresting 6 criminal suspects including Chen, involving an amount exceeding 56 million yuan. Previously, reporting party Mr. Feng was lured by high-success-rate stock picking, charged a 4,000 yuan service fee, and after losing over 10,000 yuan following instructions to buy stocks, was blocked and lost contact. (Source: [https://c.m.163.com/news/a/JQHL6Q840512D3VJ.html](https://c.m.163.com/news/a/JQHL6Q840512D3VJ.html))

Official Stance

• On January 30, 2026, the Jiangsu Securities Regulatory Bureau issued a risk warning regarding guarding against illegal financial activities carried out under the guise of "AI stock trading," reminding investors to verify the licensed qualifications of stock-picking software and services, and not to trust precision stock-picking promotions.
• In early July 2026, Financial Street Securities announced via its official WeChat account that Beijing police discovered lawbreakers counterfeiting its affiliated app to induce users to enable screen sharing for fraud, reminding investors to download trading software exclusively through official channels.
• In long-term warnings regarding illegal securities and futures activities issued by the CSRC system, it has been repeatedly clarified that institutions and individuals lacking securities investment consulting business qualifications must not covertly provide stock-picking services and charge fees in the form of software, courses, memberships, etc.

How to Protect Yourself

• ✅ Before making payment, verify the securities investment consulting qualifications of the opposing company and personnel on the CSRC official website's "Securities and Futures Market Untrustworthy Records Query Platform" and licensed institution directory. Do not pay if no record is found.
• ✅ Insist on trading using your own real-name bank account. For any software service demanding transfers to personal accounts or third-party shell companies, immediately terminate contact and retain transfer receipts.
• ✅ Download trading and market software exclusively from official mobile app stores. Remain vigilant against apps installed via links or QR codes sent privately by customer service, and conduct virus and record checks before installation.
• ✅ When confronted with time-limited or quota-limited pitches, deliberately delay decisions by at least 24 hours, during which you should consult licensed broker customer service or the 12386 CSRC hotline to verify the product's authenticity.
• ✅ Once you discover you have been scammed, immediately preserve chat history, payment receipts, software installation packages, and group chat screenshots, report the case to local public security organs, and report it through the National Anti-Fraud Center app.