AI-generated fake wealthy families lure investors into stock scam chatrooms

“I’ve been teaching my daughter, who just graduated from Seoul National University, stocks for three days. Add my Line ID and I’ll send you the data right away.”

“My wife works at SK Hynix. She said something meaningful at dinner just now. I’ll quietly share the data only with those who press ‘like’.”

These were posts uploaded to Threads on the 5th and 12th of this month, respectively. The backgrounds feature mansions with green lawns, Porsches and Benzes worth hundreds of millions of won, and a daughter casually draped in a Chanel jacket.

This is the image of a ‘perfect golden spoon family’ that anyone browsing social media might find themselves captivated by. They kindly (?) tempt you by offering to share their secret investment methods.

However, all of these are fake images meticulously created by generative artificial intelligence (AI).

Recently, taking advantage of the stock market boom, these ‘stock reading room investment scams,’ which manipulate images of the wealthy or asset management experts using AI to lure people, are running rampant.

◇ If you comment “I want to receive the data,” you’ll be led to a reading room

On the 10th, a post appeared on Threads with a photo of children in private school uniforms getting into a luxury car, accompanied by the caption, “Third day teaching stocks to my two children attending Daechi Elementary. Send me a DM if you’re curious about investment information.”

Another post featured a woman in a Chanel jacket standing in front of a detached house with two Mercedes-Benz cars parked, with the text, “Starting today, the first day of teaching my daughter, who just graduated from Korea University, stock studies.” There was also a post saying, “My husband works at Samsung Electronics and says a certain technology is the trend. Leave a DM and I’ll give you investment information.”

According to Yonhap News Agency’s investigation, this is a typical method of ‘investment reading room scams’ that provoke curiosity and then draw people into closed chatrooms that are difficult to trace. Commenting “I want to receive the data” makes you a target.

The scam organization induces victims to join group chatrooms on messengers like Telegram, Line, and Naver Band. In these chatrooms, fake profit certifications from ‘plants’ (바람잡이) follow, and if you fall for it, you become a victim of a scam where you deposit money into a fake stock Home Trading System (HTS).

When this reporter sent messages to the posters of these posts from the 12th to the 16th, asking, “I want to receive investment data,” they all asked about my age and stock investment experience under the pretext of preventing minors from imitating investment.

When I replied, “33 years old,” I received a bizarre response: “It’s difficult for people aged 33 to participate in the group chatroom, so please tell me again with an age between late 40s and early 60s.” The tone was awkward, as if it had been run through a translator. I got the impression I was chatting with a foreigner who didn’t speak Korean well.

When I changed my age to “47 years old,” I received a chatroom link connecting to Telegram, Line, or Naver Band.

Upon accessing the Telegram room through the link provided on the 12th, a person named ‘Lee Hye-young,’ with a profile of a woman in a suit, invited me to a group room with about 70 people, saying, “The representative shares the recommended stocks daily in the group chatroom, so you can earn stable profits if you invest quickly.”

After that, every day at 7:30 PM, a person referred to as ‘the representative’ would give stock lectures via text and post recommended stocks.

As soon as the instruction “Buy immediately upon receiving the alert and certify via private message” appeared, posts certifying purchases of about 500,000 won in stock followed one after another in the room.

However, these chat contents were deleted a few days later.

Regarding this, a police official explained on the 21st, “They target people in their late 40s to early 60s because they have a larger asset pool to manage, such as retirement funds, and their judgment may be relatively weaker.”

In a Naver Band stock reading room, a so-called ‘Professor Jeon Gyeong-nam’ impersonating the name and photo of Jeon Gyeong-nam, CEO of Mirae Asset Securities, provided investment lectures and recommended stocks.

On the 14th, ‘Kim Hyun-ah,’ who identified herself as Professor Jeon’s secretary, even called via Naver Band and said, “If you quickly buy the recommended stock and inform me immediately, I will give you the earliest notice for selling.”

However, when asked privately, “Who is Professor Jeon, really?” they immediately blocked the message and deleted the chatroom.

Through Line, contacting three post creators led me to different group chatrooms operated by each of them. However, in every chatroom, a person using the name and photo of ‘Kim Young-soo, CEO of Diborale Capital’ appeared. This was a professional scam chatroom where investment scam cases had already been reported through various law firms.

A police official explained, “Multiple scam rooms post the same comments simultaneously. The base for operating these macros is often in Southeast Asia, such as Cambodia, which is why the tone is awkward and translated.”

◇ “I was tempted because they posted certification photos saying they earned over 1 million won in short-term trading”

One might wonder who would fall for this, but there are continuous cases of victims losing money after being hooked by these ‘AI fake rich people.’

Lee (58), a self-employed individual, said she was scammed out of 30 million won after entering a Telegram room in March after seeing a post on Threads saying, “My husband works at Hynix and recommended this stock.”

Lee lamented, “I was tempted because people in the room posted certification photos saying they earned over 1 million won in short-term trading,” adding, “The professor even gave lectures every evening, so I didn’t suspect it was a scam.”

She continued, “Following the consultant’s instructions, I deposited 30 million won into a fake trading app, but my request to withdraw profits was denied, and within two days, the chatroom and the site disappeared. I am currently pursuing a lawsuit.”

Kim (46), an office worker, entered a Naver Band room earlier this month after seeing a post on Threads saying, “I teach stocks to my child attending Korea University,” but narrowly escaped harm thanks to a colleague’s dissuasion.

Kim said, “Over 1,000 comments were posted, and people around me were making money from stocks, so my heart wavered,” adding, “During lunch, a colleague at work said, ‘Isn’t that a reading room scam?’ I searched and found that it was already a scam company mentioned in victim cases,” he said, breathing a sigh of relief.

Furthermore, Ms. A, who entered a Telegram stock room after seeing a post on Instagram saying, “I teach stocks to my daughter who graduated from Seoul National University,” said in a chat interview, “I was trading by picking stocks until recently, but in the end, I incurred quite a significant loss.”

A police official explained, “One of the typical methods of stock reading room investment scams is to say, ‘This is exclusive information, so absolutely do not tell anyone around you.’ This is intended to prevent people around you from saying, ‘That’s a scam.’”

He added, “The profit certification posts in the room are likely to be macros rather than actual users,” and “Impersonation using AI-generated photos or stolen photos of securities firm CEOs and trading experts is also common.”

Kim Jin-won, a lawyer at Daeryun Law Firm, stated, “Stock reading scams are typically collective fraudulent acts involving multiple people, and in some cases, ‘organizing a criminal group’ for the purpose of fraud can also be applied.”

He further explained, “The structure is designed to instill in the victim the belief that stock investment is certain to succeed and lure them into investing without suspicion by dividing roles such as plants in the group chat, fake profit certifications, and impersonating experts according to a pre-written script.”

Lawyer Kim advised, “As soon as you realize you have fallen for the scam and deposited money, you should report it to your bank and the investigative authorities.” He added, “Never leave the Telegram or SNS room where you communicated with the other party, and keep the conversation and deposit records intact, as they can be used as important evidence during investigations and lawsuits.”

A police official emphasized, “If lawsuits against a specific scam company pile up, criminals may feel threatened and attempt to reach a settlement with the victim.” He stressed, “While receiving a settlement amount to recover the stolen funds, you must never be deceived by the criminals’ sweet talk, such as needing money to ‘unblock an account,’ and make additional deposits.”

He continued, “Although there are difficulties in the investigation because criminals use bypass devices such as burner phones or manipulated transmission base stations, the police are also pursuing suspects using all investigative methods.”