A business card purchased for less than RMB 60,000—listing him as a “co-founder” of an exclusive private club—became the key that unlocked access to China’s wealthy elite for a fraudster. In 2024, Feng Yu, a part-time massage therapist, adopted the alias “Feng Yucheng” and falsely claimed to have held senior positions at top-tier Wall Street investment banks. He targeted affluent individuals at high-end social events in Shanghai, peddling a so-called “U.S.-imported” quantitative futures trading software priced at RMB 3.68 million per license, ultimately defrauding victims of more than RMB 15 million.

In July of that year, posing as a co-founder of a members-only club in Shanghai’s Pudong district, Feng attended an invitation-only salon accompanied by accomplices who posed as his disciples and lavished praise on his supposed “god-like trading skills.” Avoiding technical details, he pitched a system allegedly capable of “automatic profits” and “effortless gains.” Several female attendees, intrigued by promises of high returns but lacking direct market access, fell for the scheme. One victim, Ms. Jiang, spent over RMB 600,000 on a semi-automatic version, while Ms. Qin and Ms. Li each paid several million yuan for the fully automated package—collectively losing more than RMB 8 million.

In reality, the touted “trading神器” was merely a basic plug-in attached to an ordinary futures platform, with no autonomous trading or profit-generating capabilities. All trades still required remote instructions from Feng himself. Soon, all accounts were wiped out. In an even more brazen deception, while managing Ms. Li’s account, Feng fabricated a story about his “American protégé” borrowing her account to trade stocks and earning RMB 4.2 million. He claimed RMB 2.6 million in principal had already been deposited and convinced Ms. Li to withdraw RMB 6.8 million in cash and hand it over to him. To evade detection, Feng insisted on cash-only transactions and ordered victims to delete all chat records, demonstrating sophisticated counter-surveillance tactics.

Authorities eventually traced the fraud through a bank transfer exceeding RMB 2 million. Investigators discovered that “Feng Yucheng” was a completely fabricated identity. The real suspect, Feng Yu, had no stable occupation and had previously served time for illegal business operations. His “co-founder” title was obtained by paying RMB 59,800 in cash to the club solely to craft a credible, upscale persona. Feng has since been formally arrested by prosecutors. Police urge the public to remain vigilant: any offer guaranteeing “risk-free profits” or selling expensive “profit-making software” is a classic scam, and individuals should always verify the true identity and professional credentials of anyone handling large sums of money.