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An ominous challenge resembling Netflix's brutal
“Squid Game”
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is ensnaring Chinese people and wreaking havoc
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. Welcome to China Uncensored,
I’m Chris Chappell.
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Throughout the years, all sorts of different challenges have spread far
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and
wide across Chinese social media platforms.
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For example, there are the infamous skinny challenges,
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where you have to show how skinny you are
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by doing things like tying an earphone cable around
your waist
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or reach around your back to touch your belly button.
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This is the one time
starving under communism could actually benefit someone.
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There are also several martial arts
challenges involving impressive kicks…
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and high jumps.
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And then there’s this one, where
people are supposed to enter or exit a subway train and then – TADA!
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For this one, though,
you have to be careful that you don’t get stuck
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in the subway time-and-space loop
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. This is what
delays on New York transit feel like.
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But while many Chinese online challenges are about showing
off and having fun
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, riskier kinds have recently emerged with higher stakes
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and under darker circumstances.
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Some of these are evoking eerie comparisons to the Netflix hit-series “Squid
Game”,
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where a group of financially distressed contestants in South Korea
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compete against each
other in a sequence of games over an astronomical cash reward
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that can only be claimed by the last
person alive.
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The most common such challenge
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in China often starts with an ad on a social
media platform like Douyin,
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showing footage of a person alone in a room going about their
day.
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This is accompanied by text and a voice
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explaining how a lot of money has been won
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by
contestants taking up a self-isolation challenge,
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requiring them to simply stay in a hotel room for
about a month
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, while outside staff made sure that
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they had all they needed, even providing
three meals a day.
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Doesn’t sound too bad.
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Kind of just sounds like China’s brutal new
prison system, minus most of the more brutal elements
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. Other videos show people the moment
they successfully complete the self-isolation
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being cheerfully greeted by an organizer
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and
presented with a cash prize of as much as one million yuan , about $140,000.
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They made that
much cash just by not interacting with someone for a month?
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I do that every month! I haven’t left
this room since 2012!
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Chinese people out there feeling jealous at this point in the story can
rejoice.
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Because now they can have a shot at the prize money, too!
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These videos are accompanied
by the contact info of the organizers,
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and a quick phone call is usually all it takes to
get the green light from the operator
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and, soon after, receive the documents outlining
the rules of the game.
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Hopefully, this isn’t so much like Squid Game that this is
who gives the green light.
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The rules usually don’t allow eating and drinking anything
other than the food provided at each meal,
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and they also forbid smoking, using electronic
devices,
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, bathroom breaks exceeding 15 minutes
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as well as any contact with people not involved
in the challenge.
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At the same time, players are often not allowed to cover up their faces
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or do
anything that restricts or limits
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the view of the surveillance cameras that will be monitoring
their activities
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in the room 24/7 during the self-isolation.
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So it’s like an OnlyFans stream
that you can’t leave.
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Hm. Gonna need to update Dante’s list and add this as the 10th circle
of Hell.
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Now, these rules might sound strict,
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but bear in mind that many people in China
recently lived through years
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of the Chinese government’s draconian zero-COVID policy,
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where
life was dictated by unpredictable red and green health codes…
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as well as the wanton cruelty
of Chinese officials wearing hazmat suits.
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So, for many, this feels less like a challenge
and more like nostalgia.
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Many people experienced being locked down completely
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in their apartments for more than a month,
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sometimes with limited access to food and drink.
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By the time they were allowed to re-emerge,
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they were greeted by a surging COVID death
toll during the chaotic end of the zero-COVID policy,
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and they were welcomed by an ailing
economy.
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Rather than a million yuan. Yeah,
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I’m starting to see the appeal to this from their
perspective.
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For people that lived through that,
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a self-isolation challenge probably sounds like
a test they have already aced,
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and with a major cash prize waiting on the other side
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, they are
within reach of a well-deserved reward after the years of COVID hardship
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. So, many willingly
accept the terms of the game, as well as pay
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the around $1,000 fee that is usually required by
most organizers –
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a small price to pay when you’re pretty much set to win $140,000.
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I’m sure nothing
bad can happen when people drop a ton of money
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expecting to win even more in the long run.
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That’s
why all gambling addicts are millionaires!
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When people afterwards check in to the designated
isolation location
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, it makes sense if they feel confident about what lies ahead.
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But, as you
might expect, few participants get anywhere close
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to completing the challenge.
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In fact, most are
disqualified after only a few days into it.
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One player named Sun, from Shandong Province, was
eliminated after organizers said
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that he had covered his face with a pillow,
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which violated the
rules.
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Yeah, it’s pretty tricky to relive the Covid pandemic and not cover your face.
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Another
contestant named Zhang, from Shaanxi Province,
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was disqualified after he turned away from one of
the cameras while making his bed.
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That actually happened on Zhang’s second try.
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On his third
try, the staff accused him of breaking the rules
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by covering a can of beer left in the room and
then eliminated him because touching alcoholic
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beverages was considered a violation, even
though he didn’t drink it.
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At that point, Zhang had spent nearly $3,000 on the challenge.
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A different Zhang, this one from Shanghai,
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spent nearly $14,000 on ten attempts at winning
a self-isolation prize of around $55,000
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and was at one point eliminated
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when organizers accused
him of placing his backpack on a couch in his room
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in a way that violated the video surveillance
rules.
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Which is insane! But that’s okay. I’m sure his eleventh time will be successful!
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Zhang
from Shaanxi later told a Chinese outlet that
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“a relative told me that this is an outright
scam”,
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adding that “the rules sound simple,
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but the challenge pushes the limits of human endurance
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and is essentially impossible to complete.”
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Now, it makes sense why some unscrupulous companies
would set up scams like this.
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They are able to rake in thousands of dollars in fees from players
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that are prepared to take a whole month out of their life,
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trusting that they have a fair shot
at winning the prize money,
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when, in reality, the scammers have no intention of letting anyone
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prevail and claim the winnings, no matter how many times they try.
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Except maybe the 11th time?
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Surely, that time’s the charm.
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At the same time, given that the scammers are using the footage
they have collected from former players
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to market their schemes to potential new players,
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it's
not unlikely that they are also making money selling some of this footage online,
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given that
China has a market for recordings of people in private settings.
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Some hotel owners have even
been busted for having installed spy cameras
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in the rooms they rent out to guests,
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enabling them
to get their hands on footage that they can sell online.
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It’s a shocking scandal that I talk
about in this video.
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So, the question is not why crooked fraudsters would set up scams disguised as
self-isolation challenges
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. It’s more a question of why anyone in China would take the risk
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and
sign up for such a challenge,
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when the country is a notorious hotbed of tricksters
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and home to some
of the biggest scam networks in the world.
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Except for the CCP, of course.
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I’m sure communism will
improve the citizen’s lives any decade now.
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Scams have become such a big problem that the Chinese
authorities even launched
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a fraud awareness campaign in the middle of last year.
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Although,
they’re so corrupt I wouldn’t be surprised
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if they scammed money out of it while warning about scams
for money.
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But the scams are still thriving, and there’s one big reason why.
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You see, China’s
economy remains in the dumps,
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which is hitting young people particularly hard with record youth
unemployment.
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One 24-year-old college graduate recently had to move back in with her parents
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when she got nowhere after sending out hundreds of resumes
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and failing to pass two civil service
exams.
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She told Voice of America that “it’s been a year since I graduated from university
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but I have no income, no savings and no social life”.
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No money and no social life?
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Hey! I heard
of a great challenge that should be easy for you to- oh.
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Yeah, I see how that’s easy to fall
for.
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Under equally difficult circumstances, many people simply give up and embrace their
unemployment,
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with some even opting to become “full-time children” back home with
their parents.
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Which is maybe the only job where the benefits include Pizza Rolls and free
laundry.
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But many others have to keep toiling, flocking to recruitment fairs across China
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along
with the many thousands in a similar situation in the hope
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that it will land them a job.
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Some
also build up mountains of debt in their struggle
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to make ends meet until they can hopefully find
employment
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… preferably in a real job that offers Pizza Rolls and free laundry.
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That depressing
cocktail has made Chinese people easier targets for scammers.
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Zhang from Shaanxi, who ended up
spending around $3,000 on the self-isolation scam,
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fit the profile perfectly, given that he was
unemployed and drowning in debt
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when he came across the ad for the challenge.
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According to
Chinese media Sixth Tone, when Zhang saw the ad,
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“he felt like he’d been offered a chance
to turn his life around”, but instead,
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he ended up with even more debt.
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But Chinese
people are not taking the rip-offs lying down
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they’re fighting back against the scammers.
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Sun
from Shandong, who lost 6,000 yuan, about $840,
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during his go with a self-isolation challenge,
sued the organizer and won in court.
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Now, ironically, it’s the scammer who’s trying to
hide his face.
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The only problem was that the company behind the challenge
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was reportedly
only ordered to pay him 5400 yuan, about $760, in damages
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, which is less than what he lost to the
scam.
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Chinese courts are not exactly known for their fairness,
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given that they are firmly
under the control of the Chinese Communist Party,
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but hitting back at scam operations
spitting out schemes across China
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that are being compared to a real-life Squid Game
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should
really be in everyone’s interest – incl uding the CCP’s.
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Especially considering how favorable
the situation has actually become for the scam industry these days.
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But hey, maybe the CCP
isn’t actively punishing the scammers
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because as scammers themselves, game recognize game.
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The
Chinese authorities have said that the lack of
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other job prospects is pushing some students to
become scammers themselves,
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while incidents of young graduates with advanced college degrees
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joining scam syndicates have also increased.
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So the scammed are becoming scammers themselves.
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I knew scammers were monsters, but I didn’t realize they spread like vampires
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. Fraudster
networks with lots of young recruits available,
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plenty of potential victims to prey on, and facing
minimal pushback by the authorities
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is not a great scenario for a country.
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After all, who wants to
live in a society where the most realistic job
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that people can hope for after graduation is as
a Squid Game enforcer?
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Or would that actually be an upgrade when compared to being an enforcer
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for the scammers that are currently ruling China,
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leaving people broke and hungry.
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But on the
bright side, That helps them crush this challenge.
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And have you ever wondered what’s
up with college professors and whips?
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Yes? Me too! Check out my latest episode of Deep Thoughts
While Gaming—
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about what Indiana Jones teaches us about the life of your average college professor.
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Once again, I’m Chris Chappell. See you next time.
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