Opinion Piece: The Blind Obedience Trap of Underground Financial Courses — How Fake 'Financial Literacy Training' Lures Novices into Document Forgery and Ponzi Schemes

While public attention focuses on the collapse of rental management schemes, the upstream 'brainwashing source' of this gray-market chain — private underground financial courses and influencer-led financial literacy training — is quietly draining retail investors' savings through increasingly covert methods. These institutions brand themselves as guides to 'heaven' and 'financial freedom,' using seemingly professional real estate knowledge to gain beginners' trust, only to lead them into the abyss of forged documents and illegal fundraising.

The Four-Step Psychological Manipulation: Turning Novices into Obedient Capital Pools

The core business model of these courses is never just about collecting tens of thousands of dollars in tuition. Instead, it's about filtering and brainwashing students into becoming 'obedient sources of capital.'

Step 1: Manufacture Anxiety and Resonance

Exaggerate small-income earners' fears of inflation and low wages, while portraying the instructor as a savior who rose from poverty.

Step 2: Offer Small Rewards

Teach simple property viewing and negotiation techniques to break down psychological defenses and establish a habit of obedience.

Step 3: Apply Peer Pressure

Enroll students into closed communities, flood feeds with fabricated success stories, and suppress any rational skepticism.

Step 4: Push High-Risk Schemes

At the peak of trust, promote joint rental investments, high-yield corporate bonds, or over-leveraged loan projects, leading students to sign contracts without question.

Crime Manuals in Secret Rooms: The Fake 'AB Contract' Behind 'Over-Lending'

In these underground courses, the so-called 'zero-down home buying' and 'over-lending' strategies promoted by instructors are essentially criminal.

To obtain loans exceeding a property's actual value, instructors directly teach students to create 'fake AB contracts (yin-yang contracts)': submitting inflated-price fake contracts to banks for high-value loans and price registration, even forging tax withholding slips and bank statements.

Students believe they're merely using 'financing techniques,' unaware they've already violated Article 214 of the Criminal Code (falsifying official records), Article 210 (forgery of private documents), and potentially aggravated fraud under the Criminal Code or Banking Act. When the scheme collapses, the over-loaned cash has already been siphoned off by the instructor, leaving only the signed student on the loan documents and in the defendant's seat.

Fragmented Joint Investment: Shifting All Legal and Financial Risks

To evade crackdowns on illegal fundraising under the Banking Act, instructors encourage students to pool money through 'fragmented joint investment' among themselves.

This operation maximizes risk: students take out high-credit loans in their own names, pool the funds, and register the property under a single nominee. These informal agreements make ownership easily exploitable. If the project fails, instructors can claim it was a 'private investment dispute among students' and escape liability. Victims not only lose their principal and incur massive debts, but if they recruited friends or family for commissions, they may shift from victim to criminal defendant in illegal fundraising cases.

Conclusion: See the Truth About Principal, Reject Document Forgery Rhetoric

'Rhetoric of the Abyss: The teacher will take you to heaven, investment will get you a luxury suite; your principal goes into someone else's pocket, while you bear the debt and criminal liability.' This is the true portrait of underground financial training.

The public must recognize the iron rule: 'They want your principal.' Any financial scheme that ignores risk management, lacks third-party 'trust' safeguards, and encourages document forgery or private fundraising is a perfectly packaged financial poison. Refusing to sign false contracts is the only line of defense to protect your assets and legal integrity.

*The author is a master's graduate from the Department of Architecture and Urban Design at Chinese Culture University, a real estate writer, and a senior media professional.