Hacker Cinema
No More Bets
孤注一掷
2023 · Film · 130 min
Directed by Shen Ao
A depressed programmer and a model decide to seek gold as a seemingly good job opportunity, but they inadvertently become involved in a well-planned Internet scam.
3 positive4 neutralfrom 7 commenters
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9 comments on Hacker News
Complementary movie on this topic: "No More Bets" from 2023
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_More_Bets
> It's mostly run by Chinese. (But they scam Chinese too. It originated as scamming older single Chinese ladies, actually.)
This comment suggests that the main target would be non-Chinese, with some incidental Chinese targets/victims. I think the reality is the opposite, and that the primary targets are Chinese, with some incidental Western victims, for the simple reason that both the perpetrators and the (involutary) scam workers are largely far more fluent in Chinese and knowlegable about Chinese financial systems, culture, etc.
Both in mainland China and other countries with large ethnic Chinese populations, there is quite some awareness and media information these issues, e.g.:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_More_Bets
https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3235445/chinese-tourists-shun-thailand-crime-film-stokes-kidnapping-fears-social-media
https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/08/30/1078663/pig-butchering-scam-human-trafficking/
p.s.: From casual conversations with European friends, there are probably smaller scale "native" versions of such scams in many Western countries. Large scam centers with imprissoned workers might be somewhat specific to Chinese/Cambodia.
China is very affected and has been tightening the screws hard. The situation really blew up when a Chinese actor was lured to Thailand, kidnapped across the border and forced to work in a scam center:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Wang_Xing
There was even a Chinese blockbuster movie about this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_More_Bets
But the scammer choose lawless places like Myanmar for a reason and while China can exert pressure on individual bigwigs, they can't stop those small enough to fly under the radar.
There's a Chinese movie that has a plot which revolves around this: No More Bets
The Southeast Asian country it's supposed to take place in isn't explicitly named, but Myanmar, Cambodia, and Thailand were critical of the movie anyway.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_More_Bets.
it's very odd that China doesn't really care about an estimated 100K of its citizens getting trafficked in this manner.
It's such an open secret that there was a $500MM box office movie about it last year, and media censorship is so heavy in China that I wonder what admitting this even means.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_More_Bets
The particular reason that this is now associated with a Chinese phrase, and organized Chinese crime in general, is because of the scale involved.
The UN estimates that in Myanmar alone, up to 100,000 people are being trafficked to staff the call centers involved in these schemes. https://www.dw.com/en/how-chinese-mafia-are-running-a-scam-factory-in-myanmar/a-68113480
That being said it's not just Chinese people targeting overseas people. Chinese people are also often targets of pig butchering. The problem is so bad that a movie was made about it in China and earned $500M at the box office. Given that China heavily censors its media market, it is no secret who is doing what. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_More_Bets
China is a hotbed of scamming.
The UN estimates that there are 100,000 victims of human trafficking to work at scam call centers in Myanmar alone, and many of those are Chinese nationals. https://www.dw.com/en/how-chinese-mafia-are-running-a-scam-factory-in-myanmar/a-68113480
The problem is so bad and well-known that a movie was published in China’s strictly censored market and made $500M at the box office. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_More_Bets?wprov=sfti1
There's a Chinese movie called No More Bets about young people being trafficked into slavery in those scams. Surprisingly good with less than usual pro-CCP propaganda.
There's a recent Chinese blockbuster about this called No More Bets, inspired by a true story. But in the movie the victim is saved; in real life he's still enslaved