My Friend's Encounter With "The Warren Buffett of China"

It's just unbelievable!

A couple of days ago a friend of mine, who is a pretty lady in her early 20s, met a man on a bus. The man, in mid-30s and sitting besides my friend, told her that he loved her at the first sight. Trying to impress her, he claimed that he got a Ph.D. in the U.S. and returned to China several years ago for the sake of the love to his motherland. Now he is the boss of his own company that manages billions of yuan. He invited her to work in his company and would take her around the city in his Mercedes-Benz. He left with a name card listing him as a vice-president of a company affiliated to a Macau conglomerate.

After I was told the story - my friend asked me for advice - my first reaction was that this is just another story that probably happens many times everyday in Shenzhen: self-claimed successful middle-aged men trying to seduce young girls who are looking for a better life. But still I was intrigued (and impressed) by the man's direct and somewhat shameless self-promotion, even if the claims might be true. Just to be curious and trying my luck, I googled the person's Chinese name on the web. Holy shit! this guy is something! He is the [would-be] "Warren Buffett of China"! He even uses "Buffet" as his other name: 邓菲特 (Deng-ffett). Further research revealed that he is a well-reported person in the Chinese media during the last few years and is a very controversial person. He put an outrageously long and unorthodox resume on the web and the claims in there are just as outrageous as his self-introduction to my friend. Among the claims are:

I worked for the Quantum Funds of George Soros. I was a student of Mr. Warren Buffett.

"三位世界级顶尖大师物色了得意弟子---最具有开拓进取精神的美国哈佛大学国际金融博士邓菲特先生回到中国，担当这个划时代的投资实战操盘任务。"

[乔治。索罗斯]因年事渐高，特物色华人神童邓菲特培养，将其一生浸染之绝技“倾囊相授”，终于造就一位“石破天惊”之少年英才！

"邓菲特要在中国再现“价值投资的伟大奇迹”，必须研究并适应中国的国情，邓菲特最崇敬中国最伟大的历史伟人毛主席的“敢叫日月换新天”的豪迈气概！"

"跟我投资20年您也是千亿富翁！ 10万元起步--让我们学习恩师巴菲特--价值投资10年1000倍！"

"今天持仓39%不动，喝茶、听音乐，悠然自得。。。"

... I have managed billions of dollars for my clients and my advices have made many people super rich. I want to revolutionize the security industry of China.

... I routinely drive around the country in my Mercedes-Benz 500 and give lectures on investing.

... ...

Don't believe it? Check out his web site (in Chinese) yourself, along with his blogs and a picture of him in front of his, you guessed it, Mercedes-Benz (actually a Lincohn Town car?).

For lack of evidences, I really can't say for sure about his credentials or investment records. I haven't read his books on investment either. But most comments on the web seem to suggest that this is a scam the man has engineered to steal money from other people.

As for my friend, I jokingly congratulated her on her good luck in meeting such a rich and famous person. As far as I know, the man is still trying to date her. Every time he would say this: "I will pick you up with my Mercedes-Benz"!