AI Face-Swapping Fake Broker Stock Recommendation Group Scam: High-Clone Brokerage App + Star Analyst Live-Streaming Traffic Conversion to Harvest Deposits

Who Gets Targeted

Victims are mostly Tier 3 to Tier 5 middle-aged retail investors and retirees who have some savings but lack securities investment common sense. Enticed by suited 'star analysts' in short videos showcasing consecutive daily limit-up trading records, they excitedly joined chat groups. These individuals naturally trust brokerage brands but cannot distinguish between official and counterfeit apps. Compounded by numerous shills in the group creating a profitable atmosphere and mentors offering personal care to build emotional dependency, they are easily driven by a fear of missing out and greed for doubled returns to transfer their retirement savings into designated fake trading accounts, only realizing the truth when they are unable to withdraw funds.

骗局怎么运作

• Step 1: Short-Video Traffic Generation: Syndicates post AI face-swapped analyst stock recommendation videos or fake profit screenshots on platforms like Douyin, using pitches such as 'following institutional positioning, one golden stock daily' to guide viewers to direct messages or add customer service on WeChat to enter so-called internal groups.
• Step 2: Group Chat Shills: Victims are pulled into WeChat or enterprise groups named after brokerage business schools, where dozens of members are actually shills continuously posting profit screenshots and praising the teacher's divine accuracy, creating a herd effect and making newcomers mistakenly believe that missing out means losing money.
• Step 3: Inducing Counterfeit Software Downloads: Individuals in the group claiming to be customer service send links, inducing downloads of fake trading apps with names and icons mimicking well-known brokerages. The interface deeply mimics genuine ones and can even display real-time quotes, while actually being a virtual trading disk controllable via the back end.
• Step 4: Small-Scale Trial Order Rebates: After depositing a few thousand yuan for the first time, the account immediately displays a profit and allows small-scale withdrawals to dispel doubts, using pitches such as 'newcomer trial funds' and 'larger positions yield more rebates' to entice victims into adding more funds.
• Step 5: Large-Order Harvest and Account Locking: Once victims invest tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of yuan, accounts are frozen under pretexts such as system upgrades, suspected regulatory violations, or the need to pay margins or personal income tax to withdraw. Finally, the group chat is disbanded, the app shut down, and the funds absconded with.

红旗信号（看到这些快跑）

• 🚩 Stock recommenders actively promise capital preservation, guaranteed returns, or fixed monthly doubling returns; legitimate licensed institutions are legally prohibited from making such promises.
• 🚩 Requiring trading software downloads via group chat links rather than official app stores, or app names and icons closely resembling well-known brokerages with subtle detail discrepancies.
• 🚩 Deposit accounts are personal bank accounts or shell company accounts inconsistent with the brokerage name, rather than brokerage third-party custodian accounts.
• 🚩 A large number of group members intensively posting profit screenshots with identical phrasing, and questioners being quickly kicked out of the group chat.
• 🚩 Demanding additional transfers under various pretexts such as taxes, margin fees, or unfreezing fees in order to withdraw funds.
• 🚩 Analyst live-stream video lip-movement and sound occasionally out of sync, or refusal to conduct real-time video streaming verification of identity.

真实案例

• In July 2026, the Securities Times reported that Beijing police discovered criminals impersonating the Financial Street Securities app, inducing users to download fake software and enable screen-sharing to commit fraud; the company issued an urgent statement via its official WeChat account to warn investors.
• A report in July 2026 disclosed that criminals guided traffic from Douyin to a social app, directing investors to join a chat group named Shenwan Hongyuan Business School 158. Individuals in the group claiming to be staff induced investors to download counterfeit virtual trading software; the involved brokerage publicly refuted the claims and reported the matter to the police.
• In March 2026, media Financial 315 investigations revealed that a platform claiming to be AI quantitative stock trading advertised monthly returns exceeding 150%. Interviewees stated that the so-called quantitative trading was actually a virtual disk, account profits were merely numbers modified in the back end, and it even developed a pyramid-style referral rebate model, with multiple investors suffering cumulative losses of hundreds of thousands of yuan.
• On March 14, 2026, Southern Finance reporter Weng Rongtao discovered that multiple 'Li Gui' (impostor) software companies represented by Wuhan Baiyu Quantitative and Shenzhen Yongjie Quantitative used 'AI quantitative stock trading' as a promotional gimmick on the surface, while actually building a closed-loop scam of 'pyramid-style recruitment plus Ponzi fund pools'; over 100 people who provided data to the reporter suffered cumulative losses exceeding 30 million yuan, and police have launched formal investigations into some of the involved cases. (Source: [https://finance.sina.com.cn/roll/2026-03-14/doc-inhqyaqm3249902.shtml](https://finance.sina.com.cn/roll/2026-03-14/doc-inhqyaqm3249902.shtml))
• On July 28, 2026, the Hunan Financial Moment channel issued an anti-fraud warning: In August 2025, Liang Yun, a 50-something investor in Guangzhou, received a call from someone claiming to be Baiyu Quantitative staff, who promoted a fully automated AI quantitative stock trading system claiming daily returns of 3% to 5% and monthly returns exceeding 150%. Liang Yun successively increased investment to over 700,000 yuan, ultimately losing over 1.6 million yuan. Over 300 similar victims have emerged, and in January 2026 police officially filed an investigation and arrested some suspects. (Source: [https://moment.rednet.cn/content/646041/62/16122215.html](https://moment.rednet.cn/content/646041/62/16122215.html))

Official Stance

• On January 30, 2026, the Jiangsu Securities Regulatory Bureau issued a risk warning regarding guarding against illegal financial activities conducted under the guise of AI stock trading, pointing out that criminals utilize concepts like AI stock selection, big data diagnosis, and quantitative trading to package illegal services and fake software.
• In July 2026, Financial Street Securities reported through official channels that Beijing police discovered a fake app fraud case impersonating the company, reminding investors to download software via official channels and remain vigilant against screen-sharing operations.
• Since 2025, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has repeatedly warned against risks of illegal stock recommendations and brokerage impersonation, clarifying that any promise of returns or fee-charging stock recommendations in live-stream rooms involves suspected violations, and investors can verify institutional qualifications through the CSRC official website securities and futures market dishonest records query platform.

How to Protect Yourself

• ✅ Download trading software only through brokerage official websites or mobile official app stores. Before installation, compare developer names with official public announcements, and reject all installation package links sent via group chats.
• ✅ Log into the Securities Association of China official website to check institutional and practitioner licensing information before depositing funds, verify whether transfer accounts are brokerage third-party custodian accounts, and treat any demand to wire funds into personal cards as fraud.
• ✅ Maintain default skepticism toward transaction screenshot displays and profit videos: screenshots can be forged, virtual disks can have numbers modified in the back end, do not engage in financial exchanges with anyone claiming to be a mentor, and do not participate in stock recommendation services requiring upfront fees.
• ✅ Immediately stop operations and call the 96110 anti-fraud hotline for consultation when faced with demands to continue transferring funds under the pretext of unfreezing or tax fees, and retain chat records and transfer receipts to report to the police.
• ✅ Remind older family members not to share mobile phone screens or disclose verification codes, and report suspected counterfeit apps with a single click via the National Anti-Fraud Center app.