Above 4100 points, who is impersonating as a "renowned analyst"?
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The Shanghai Composite Index has surpassed 4100 points, and “fresh events” are coming one after another.
Every bull market rally is almost inevitably accompanied by the rise of new scams, but the method this year is somewhat strange.
On January 9, the financial engineering research team of a small- to medium-sized securities firm issued a stern statement via its official public account, warning about recent impersonation incidents.
There is no shortage of impersonation cases in history, but most are individuals impersonating famous institutions in popular sectors. Now, impersonating securities analysts within a “niche” research system is quite rare.
Have “scammers” entered niche fields too?
Or are there other reasons?
Securities Analysts Publicly “Expose Fakes”
When the market heats up, the gray chain often becomes active. Using the names of star fund managers for stock recommendations, pretending to be chief economists to sell stock trading secrets—these stock market fraud tricks are nothing new.
But a recent statement shows a new trend among scammers.
On January 9, the Financial Engineering Team of Kaiyuan Securities published a stern statement through its official public account, warning about recent impersonation.
The statement says that the team discovered criminals impersonating the chief financial engineering analyst Wei from Kaiyuan Securities on online platforms, stealing the analyst's profile photo, and operating related social media accounts and online groups. Some group names involved phrases like “Kaiyuan Securities New Generation Wealth XXXX”, hinting at or pretending to be authorized by the Kaiyuan Securities Financial Engineering Team, and are suspected of engaging in illegal securities activities or fraudulent behavior.
The statement further pointed out: The Kaiyuan Securities Financial Engineering Team and Wei himself have never authorized any organization or individual to operate social media accounts or online groups touting investment classes, stock recommendations, or trading advice on any online platform.
A Different “Target for Impersonation”
This statement contains several new pieces of information, and the analyst Wei being impersonated is especially noteworthy.
From past public cases, those impersonated by criminals tend to be people with high market “visibility.”
Typical targets include star public fund managers, top private fund managers, chief economists at securities firms, or sell-side analysts with high exposure in macro and strategy sectors.
These impersonated groups share a common feature: their names have enough communication power to be recognized by ordinary investors and quickly converted into trust.
But this time, the statement involves a financial engineering analyst at a small- to medium-sized brokerage, a highly specialized position not oriented to the general public—being impersonated is quite baffling.
Financial Engineering Research Mainly Caters to “Professional Investors”
The core work of financial engineering research is not to predict market movements or offer investment conclusions, but to use data, models, and quantitative methods to dissect and describe market behavior.
The research results of financial engineering analysts are usually for institutional buy-side clients, including public funds, insurance capital, and some quantitative investment institutions.
Put more simply, this role is closer to an “expert advisor”: not directly telling investors what to buy, but using quantitative research to clarify how the market operates, for clients’ reference.
This role is long operated at a highly specialized level, and usually far from retail investors’ view. Financial engineering analysts are extremely rare in previous impersonation incidents.
Why Have They Entered the Scammers’ “Radar”?
A natural question arises: why would this financial engineering analyst be selected as the “impersonation target”?
Given the limited public information, we cannot know precisely what personal information the criminals used, nor judge their internal operation.
But from observing previous cases, scammers often choose impersonation targets linked to the “trust level” among their target audience.
Unlike analysts who remain behind the scenes, analyst Wei has appeared at a variety of professional events recently, indicating considerable fame and reputation within professional circles.
Reviewing public information, Kaiyuan Securities’ Wei has participated in several types of activities:
One type is internal securities firm or research-driven external events, such as professional sharing themed on research results. These usually focus on methodology or research frameworks, addressing institutional clients or audiences with professional knowledge.
The second type is lectures and exchange activities at universities. These are mostly academic discussions or career sharing, mainly attended by students, a common way researchers interact publicly.
The third type is small-scale exchanges with external quantitative investment or data research organizations. These events are smaller, mainly for peer sharing or closed-door discussion, with some organizers or participants also operating professional platforms related to quantitative investment.
Public sources also show that Wei is involved in academia, serving as an external mentor for finance master's students at Zhejiang University, Fudan University, and a professional math master's mentor at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.
Official Account Has Promoted “Featured Data”
Besides these professional exchanges, Wei and his team have also presented their research products publicly through their official WeChat account.
Public information shows that in September 2024, the team published “[Kaiyuan Financial Engineering Wei Jianrong Team] Featured Data Gift Pack”, systematically introducing some data products and research tools developed in their quantitative research.
This featured data covers factor data, active equity fund holding analysis, fund investment labeling system, top ten golden stocks, fund advisory data, and more—highlighting the team’s accumulation in data processing, research frameworks, and methodologies.
Unlike single research reports, the article packaged various research results as a “data gift pack”, and clearly provided access instructions at the end, suggesting further communication via institutional sales or team liaison.
Combining all the above, multiple types of public and semi-public appearances by this analyst and the data pack service are continuously recorded online, and his “visibility” may be redefined.
The intersection of various professional exchanges and public activities may have helped Wei build a reputation in the circle, leading to impersonation?
This seems plausible, though not entirely clear.
For ordinary investors, the key takeaway is not to trust group information easily, even if they show identity info—make sure to verify identity carefully online and beware of scams.
Risk Warning and DisclaimerThe market carries risks, investment should be cautious. This article does not constitute personal investment advice, nor does it take into account specific investment goals, financial situations, or needs of individual users. Users should consider whether any opinions, views, or conclusions in this article suit their own circumstances. Investing based on this is at your own risk.
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