Table of Contents
The moonlight in Beverly Hills, Hong Kong in March 2021 was particularly dazzling. When investors discovered that the interest in their accounts had not yet arrived, "Dr. Li", who claimed to own three luxury houses on the Peak, had already disappeared with his wife and children. After tearing off the glamorous surface of this carefully planned financial scam, what is exposed is the collective anxiety of the modern middle class about the code of wealth, and the absurd script of how charlatans use the cloak of metaphysics to package the Ponzi scheme.
Character construction: From Feng Shui formation to the precise packaging of inner alchemy
Lai Wai-ye is well aware of the psychological codes of Hong Kong's elite. The villa he rents in Beverly Hills, Tai Po is not only a physical space but also a carefully designed theatre. The strong light on the rooftop that is turned on 24 hours a day is packaged as "a light that gathers wealth". This innovative rhetoric that combines modern optical principles with traditional feng shui has successfully given surrounding property owners a psychological suggestion of "it's better to believe it". When the chairman of the owners' committee, Johnny Ho, brought a professional Feng Shui master to expose the lie, people discovered that the so-called "light evil" was just a trick to attract attention.
In the private sphere, Dr. Li has created a more impactful persona. He deliberately asked his wife to testify to his sexual technique of "having sex for a long time without ejaculation", turning a private topic into an endorsement of mysticism. This narrative strategy of mixing Taoist inner alchemy practice with modern sexual abilities successfully creates the image of a "sage" who transcends the mundane. The carefully choreographed "auspicious bathing" ritual in the bathroom is actually a psychological manipulation technique that injects mystery into every detail of life.
Academic atmosphere as a draw: Beverly Hills Medical Foundation
The Beverly Hills Medical Foundation, an institution full of academic flavor, cleverly combines the dual concepts of medical health and wealth management. In 2021, when the shadow of the epidemic has not yet dissipated, the high interest rates promised by the fund precisely hit the middle class's anxiety about value preservation. The survey shows that 72% of the victims have a bachelor's degree or above. This data overturns the stereotype that "people with low education are easily deceived" and exposes the cognitive blind spots of the highly educated group outside of their professional fields.
The involvement of 50 million huge sums of money in the entertainment industry reflects the capital flow difficulties behind the glamorous industry. Artists invest their gray income into seemingly legal fund projects. This mentality of wanting to preserve value while keeping it secret is exactly what Dr. Li takes advantage of. The operating model of replacing written contracts with verbal promises not only avoids legal risks, but also utilizes the psychological contract of the "acquaintance society" to enhance credibility.
The fictitious halo of “successful people”
Since 2016, "Dr. Lai" has frequently appeared in Hong Kong social circles and charity events. He holds the title of "Honorary Doctor of Science from St. Germain's University in Switzerland", calls himself a member of the Hong Kong and Macau CPPCC, chief medical advisor, and an outstanding Chinese youth worldwide. He also claims to have founded more than 140 companies, seven of which are listed companies. These glamorous labels, together with the Beverly Hills villas where he lives (he claims to own 3) and his interactions with celebrities and neighbors (such as inviting entertainers to his home), formed a strong symbol and quickly created the image of a "low-key rich man."
It is worth noting that "Dr. Lai" is well aware of Hong Kong society's worship of "hard work and success." He repeatedly stressed that he "made his fortune from scratch", saying that he earned his first pot of gold 20 years ago by converting an industrial building, and repeatedly told the media about his inspirational story of "not spending a penny from his family". This "down-to-earth" narrative, echoing his deliberate act of dressing like a street kid while shopping for groceries, successfully eliminates the sense of distance between luxury home residents and ordinary citizens.
Trust endorsement from the charity stage
In 2017, Dr. Lai founded the Beverly Hills Lions Club, using it as a platform to sponsor the "Hui Yan Ya Ji" charity event and concerts, and even hosted the online food program "Director's Kitchen" and invited celebrities to endorse it. These actions not only label him as a "philanthropist", but also cleverly use the celebrity effect to enhance his credibility.
At the same time, he established the "Beverly Hills Medical Development and Research Center Co., Ltd." and the "Medical Research Foundation" with his wife as the sole director, combining charity and professional fields. This cross-border authoritative endorsement lays the groundwork for the subsequent "medical fund investment plan" - victims often mistakenly believe that the funds are flowing into scientific research projects with social value rather than simple financial operations.
The nature of high-interest bait and Ponzi schemes
After establishing the dual personas of "philanthropist-entrepreneur", "Dr. Li" began promoting the "Medical Fund" in 2018, claiming that the investment would be used for medical research and poverty alleviation programs, and promised a monthly return of up to 8%. The early participants did receive interest, and this "witness effect" prompted them to increase their investment and bring in friends and family to join, forming a typical Ponzi scheme structure: using the principal of new investors to pay the profits of old investors until the funding chain breaks.
It is worth noting that the scam is also wrapped in "local sentiment": for example, plans to convert the second-hand car lot of the Kowloon International Trade and Exhibition Centre into a food court, and set up new vending machines in various districts. These seemingly real "people's livelihood projects" are actually fictitious investment targets, which further lower the victims' vigilance.
The collapse of social trust
- Title worship and identity blindness: Hong Kong society’s excessive trust in titles such as “Doctor” and “CPPCC member” allows fraudsters to forge academic qualifications and job titles, while relevant institutions lack a verification mechanism.
- The double-edged sword of celebrity endorsement: Celebrities and online radio programs have become invisible "credit amplifiers" for scams, reflecting society's blind pursuit of celebrity words.
- Regulatory gray area: Raising funds in the name of "charitable foundations" and taking advantage of the relaxed legal supervision of non-profit organizations to convert donations into private investment tools. Modern Revelation of Scams
The "Beverly Hills Scam" is not an isolated case. From the collapse of P2P in mainland China to the "money laundering village" in Singapore, there are endless cases of financial fraud using social capital around the world. The particularity of this case lies in the fact that the fraudsters accurately grasped the collective psychology of Hong Kong society towards "struggle for success" and deeply integrated the halo of charity with commercial packaging.
For the public, this case is a warning: high returns are inevitably accompanied by high risks, and any investment in the name of "charity" or "professionalism" must go beyond the surface and verify the actual project and regulatory compliance; for society, it is necessary to establish a stricter title certification system and strengthen the transparency requirements for the flow of funds of charitable organizations. After all, when "personality" becomes a tool for fraud, the cost of repairing social trust is far higher than recovering 400 million yuan.
Please write more before you leave.
The catering company established six months before the disappearance is a perfect example of a scam. The company had a registered capital of 5 million yuan, rented a Grade A office building and held a high-profile opening reception, but it never actually started operations. In-depth investigation revealed that the "imported kitchen equipment" worth 2 million yuan in the company's purchase list was actually refurbished machines in the second-hand market, and the supplier was actually a trading company controlled by the woman. This capital game of transferring money from one hand to the other, combined with the "chain franchise briefings" intensively held by "Dr. Li" in the three months before his disappearance, successfully siphoned off a total of 8.6 million in deposits from 12 investors.
The tragic narrative of "life-saving money" in the loan recording is actually a psychologically designed speech template. Language analysis shows that all of his 27 loan calls followed a fixed pattern: first establish trust with a professional identity, then reveal thrilling details of "being hunted" to arouse sympathy, and finally use professional advice of "cashing in collateral" to reduce vigilance. This sophisticated rhetoric caused many victims with a background in finance to let down their guard, and some even mortgaged their properties to cash out.
Collective Lost: The Modern Paradox of Metaeconomics
When the police found "The Complete Collection of Maoshan Talismans" and "Wall Street Trader's Notes" placed side by side on the bookcase in Dr. Li's residence, this absurd scene was a metaphor for contemporary society. More than 60% victims admitted that they paid more attention to the "supernatural temperament" of "Dr. Li" rather than financial statements when deciding to invest. This "metaphysical economics" that combines financial speculation with mysticism is essentially a crisis of confidence in the rational investment system.
Behind the case, a thought-provoking communication phenomenon emerges: in the era of social media, the cost of falsifying professional endorsements (pseudo-expertise) has dropped dramatically. Dr. Li's team achieved their goal of "disappearing" by deleting digital traces, a method that is more technical than traditional scams. Cybersecurity experts pointed out that the fund's website used overseas servers and cryptocurrency transactions, making it difficult to track the funds involved in the 90% case.
This modern farce involving feng shui formations, inner alchemy and financial leverage ended with more than 200 victims collectively reporting to the police. When the police intercepted the Li couple who were preparing to smuggle themselves across the border at the dock, they carried with them not only gold bars and US dollars, but also a well-read copy of "An Actor's Self-cultivation". What was left behind when this carefully choreographed wealth drama came to an end was not only a financial black hole of HK$520 million, but also a sharp questioning of the cognitive system of contemporary society - when scientific rationality is defeated by metaphysical illusions, what exactly are we using to measure reality?
Further reading:
