[Shot!] The Investment Fraud of a Perfect Silver-Spoon Family

Using AI to stage images of wealth and "fishing" with fake credentials
"It's premium information, so never tell anyone around you"—the temptation
Messenger chats in awkward Korean that seem run through a translator
"If you suspect fraud, preserve the chat-room evidence and report it"

"It's the third day of teaching stocks to my daughter, who just graduated from Seoul National University. Add my LINE ID and I'll send you the materials right away."

"My wife works at SK Hynix. She just said something meaningful at dinner. I'll quietly share the materials only with those who hit 'like.'"

These are posts uploaded to Threads on the 5th and the 12th, respectively. In the background appear a mansion with lush green lawns, a Porsche and a Mercedes-Benz worth hundreds of millions of won, and a daughter casually wearing a Chanel jacket.

It is the image of a "perfect silver-spoon family" that anyone scrolling through social networking services (SNS) has their eyes caught by at least once. They kindly (?) tempt you, offering to share their own secret investment know-how.

But it is all a fake image elaborately created with generative artificial intelligence (AI).

Recently, riding the stock market boom, such "stock leading-room investment fraud"—which manipulates images of the wealthy or asset-management experts with AI to lure people—is running rampant.

Comment "I want the materials" and you're led to a leading room

On the 10th, a post was uploaded to Threads with a photo of children in private-elementary-school uniforms getting into a foreign car, reading, "Day 3 of teaching stocks to my two kids attending Daechi Elementary. If you're curious about investment info, send a DM."

Also uploaded were a post with a photo of a woman in a Chanel jacket standing in front of a country house with two Mercedes-Benz cars parked, reading, "Today is the first day of teaching stock studies to my daughter who just graduated from Korea University," and a post reading, "My husband is a Samsung Electronics employee, and he says a certain technology is the trend. Leave a DM and I'll tell you the investment info."

According to Yonhap News's reporting, this turned out to be a typical method of "investment leading-room fraud" that stirs curiosity and then draws people into hard-to-trace closed chat rooms. If you leave a comment saying "I want the materials," you become a target of the crime.

The fraud organization induces victims to join messenger group chat rooms such as Telegram, LINE, and Naver Band. In the chat rooms, "shills" post fake profit verifications one after another, and those who fall for it are defrauded into depositing money into a fake stock home trading system (HTS).

When this reporter sent messages saying "I want to receive the investment materials" to the post authors over five days from the 12th to the 16th, they all, on the pretext of preventing minors from imitating the investments, asked about age and stock-investment experience.

When I answered "33 years old," an absurd reply came back saying, "33-year-olds have difficulty joining the group chat room, so please tell me again with an age in the late 40s to early 60s." The tone was awkward, as if run through a translator. I got the impression of chatting with a foreigner who is not good at Korean.

When I revised the age to "47," a chat-room link connecting to Telegram, LINE, Naver Band, and the like arrived.

When I accessed the Telegram room through the link provided on the 12th, a figure named "Lee Hye-young" with a profile of a woman in a suit invited me to a group room of about 70 people, saying, "The representative shares the day's recommended stocks in the group chat every day, so if you invest quickly you'll gain stable profits."

After that, every day at 7:30 p.m., a figure called "the representative" gave stock lectures by text and posted recommended stocks.

No sooner had the guidance "As soon as you get the alert, buy immediately and verify by private message" appeared than posts from people verifying purchase captures worth about 500,000 won poured in one after another in the room.

But this chat content was deleted a few days later.

Regarding this, a police official explained on the 21st, "The late-40s to early-60s age group has a large scale of assets they can manage, such as retirement funds, and their judgment may be relatively clouded, so they are targeted for the crime."

In the Naver Band stock leading room, a so-called "Professor Jeon Kyung-nam," who impersonated the name and photo of Jeon Kyung-nam, president of Mirae Asset Securities, guided investment lectures and recommended stocks.

On the 14th, a person named "Kim Hyun-a," who identified herself as the secretary of "Professor Jeon," even placed a Naver Band call, saying, "If you buy the recommended stocks quickly and let us know immediately, we'll take care of your selling timing first."

However, when I asked by private message, "What does Professor Jeon really do?" they immediately blocked the message and deleted the chat room.

When I contacted three post authors through LINE, each guided me to a different group chat room they ran. However, in each chat room, a figure using the name and photo of "Kim Young-su, CEO of Devoral Capital" appeared without exception. It was a professional fraud chat room for which investment-fraud damage cases had already been received through several law firms.

A police official explained, "The same lines are posted simultaneously across multiple fraud rooms, and the bases running these macros are often in Southeast Asia, such as Cambodia, which is also why the tone is an awkward translation style."

"I was tempted because they posted verification photos claiming they made over 1 million won on day trades"

One might wonder who would fall for it, but damage cases of people who were "fished" by such "AI fake rich people" and lost money continue one after another.

Self-employed Ms. Lee (58) said that in March she saw a post on Threads reading "My husband works at Hynix and recommended this stock," entered a Telegram room, and was defrauded of 30 million won.

Ms. Lee lamented, "In the room, people posted verification photos claiming they made over 1 million won on day trades, so I was tempted," adding, "The professor even gave lectures every evening, so I never suspected it was fraud."

She added, "Following the counselor's guidance, I deposited 30 million won into a fake exchange app, but after being refused a profit withdrawal, the chat room and the site all disappeared within two days. I'm currently pursuing a complaint."

Office worker Mr. Kim (46) said that early this month he saw a post on Threads reading "Teaching stocks to my child attending Korea University," entered a Naver Band room, and avoided disaster thanks to a colleague's dissuasion.

Mr. Kim said, "The post had over 1,000 comments, and hearing that people around had made money on stocks, my heart wavered," adding with relief, "At lunchtime a company colleague said, 'Isn't that a leading-room scam?' and when I searched, it was a fraud outfit already cited as a damage case."

Also, Mr. A, who said he entered a Telegram stock room after seeing a post on Instagram reading "Teaching stocks to my daughter who graduated from Seoul National University," said in an interview via chat, "Until recently I traded by just randomly picking, but in the end I took quite a lot of losses."

A police official explained, "One of the typical methods of stock leading-room investment fraud is to say, 'This is premium information, so never tell anyone around you,'" adding, "The intent is to block the people around you from being able to say, 'That's a scam.'"

He also said, "The profit-verification posts in the room are highly likely to be macros rather than actual users," adding, "Impersonation using AI-generated photos or photos of securities-firm CEOs and trading experts is also common."

Attorney Kim Jin-won of Daeryun Law Firm said, "Stock-leading fraud cases are usually collective fraud crimes conspired by many people, and depending on the case, even the crime of organizing a criminal group for the purpose of fraud may apply."

He also explained, "According to a pre-written script, roles such as shills in the group room, fake profit verifications, and expert impersonation are divided up to plant in the victim the belief that the stock investment will surely succeed and to lure them into investing without suspicion."

Attorney Kim advised, "The moment you think you've been deceived and deposited money, you must report it to your bank and investigative agencies," adding, "Never leave the Telegram or SNS room where you conversed with the other party, and keep the conversations and deposit records intact, as they can be used as important evidence in the investigation and litigation process."

A police official emphasized, "When complaints pile up against a specific fraud outfit, the criminals feel a sense of crisis and sometimes attempt to settle with victims," adding, "Do receive a settlement that can recover the damages, but in this process you must never make additional deposits by being deceived by the criminals' sweet talk, such as 'the account is frozen and money is needed to unfreeze it.'"

He added, "The criminals use bypass devices such as burner phones or manipulate transmitting base stations, which makes the investigation difficult, but the police too are mobilizing every investigative method to track down the suspects."

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