Fraud rings in China are using social media posts about stock losses as a precision-targeting tool, drawing investors into fake stock-picking schemes that route money into personal or shell-company accounts rather than legitimate brokerage channels. Two women told The Paper they lost more than 500,000 yuan and more than 600,000 yuan respectively after being approached on Xiaohongshu and a stock forum by strangers posing as charitable advisers or fellow victims. In both cases, the scammers built trust first with offers such as free stock diagnosis, inside information and exclusive channels, then steered the targets to unofficial trading software that mimicked legitimate broker platforms. Small early rebates or withdrawals were allowed to create credibility, while fabricated profit screenshots and group-chat pressure encouraged bigger deposits. Once victims tried to cash out larger sums, the operators imposed new conditions such as account upgrades, fees or other restrictions to force additional payments. Guotai Haitong Securities said it has never launched a "Supreme Edition trading account" and warned that any claim to bypass ChiNext and STAR Market suitability rules is fraudulent. The report said these operations often rely on private chat apps, fake websites and app-store bypass downloads to avoid oversight, and in some cases are linked to coordinated stock manipulation before retail buyers are dumped on. Police pressure is rising: Shenzhen's Longgang District Public Security Bureau said on July 9 it broke up a telecom fraud ring in Bantian, arresting 247 suspects in a case valued at 100 million yuan, with 24.08 million yuan frozen. Lawyers and platforms are urging investors to report fraud quickly, as fund recovery becomes much harder once money has been transferred onward or laundered through corporate accounts, gold trades or cryptocurrency channels.