AI in action · Investor protection
Paid in Gold Bars: A Michigan 'AI Stock Picker' Scam
A Michigan man pleaded no contest to a scam whose messaging group claimed an AI program could predict stocks. The victim paid in cash and gold bars, and was then asked for more.
Yanling Xie, 32, pleaded no contest on Thursday, October 29, in Oakland County, Michigan, to one count of false pretenses of $50,000 or more, WDIV ClickOnDetroit reported. The charge had been false pretenses of $100,000 or more. He is due to be sentenced on December 10 before Circuit Judge Jeffery Matis. The case was brought by the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office after a resident of Troy, a Detroit suburb, filed a complaint on July 7.
The pitch will be familiar to anyone who has read a regulator's warning this year. Members of an online messaging group solicited investments in US and Chinese stocks and said they had an artificial-intelligence program that could predict market trends. Between March and May 2026 the victim made eight in-person payments to several group members, in cash and in gold bars, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in total. When the victim tried to withdraw, the group said a further payment was needed before the money could be released.
That last step is the tell. A request to pay a fee, tax or "unlock" charge before a withdrawal is the point at which almost every investment scam reveals itself, because a real broker deducts its fees from the account rather than asking for new money. In this case the victim went to the police instead, and met one of the suspects again with officers present; he was arrested without incident.
The form of payment is the other detail worth noting. Scams have shifted from bank transfers, which can sometimes be stopped, to crypto, cash and gold, which cannot. Troy police warned residents to be wary of anyone promising guaranteed returns or asking to be paid in cash, gold or crypto: "Once your money is sent, it is often gone for good." The "AI" label adds credibility without adding anything checkable; no one outside the group ever saw the program.
The protections are simple and free. In the US, any firm or person selling securities can be looked up on FINRA BrokerCheck or the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site; in the UK, on the FCA register. A tool that really could predict the market would not need to be sold to strangers in a chat group.
Sources: WDIV ClickOnDetroit — Man pleads no contest to scam that defrauded Troy resident of over $100K (Oct 30, 2026); FINRA — Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Investment Fraud, investor insights