Small Scams as a Way of Life

2006-08-21

Bartłomiej Magierowski

In the big cities of China (especially along the coastal areas), more and more newcomers from all over the country are arriving. This applies both to Beijing and Shanghai, as well as Shenzhen, which is a mixture of all social classes and all Chinese minorities.

One of these groups consists of petty thieves and fraudsters. Perhaps at first they came here looking for a better life, intending to find a good job, or maybe they even expected great success and their own business. In China's huge metropolises, not all dreams can come true and things do not always work out perfectly. Ordinary people from villages do not want to return to their families empty-handed; they have to do something, earn some money, and this is how they become petty criminals.

The best example of how such a group of fraudsters operates is a scene from a city bus in the centre of Shenzhen. An old vehicle travels along the main street, passengers basically do not talk, they are strangers to each other, travelling to work or school. Suddenly someone shouts, and a man smilingly announces to everyone that he has won the main prize in some competition and shows the winning certificate. The entire bus becomes excited, all passengers join the discussion, congratulate him and check whether the prize is genuine. The quiet bus suddenly becomes almost a conference room. However, you do not need to be Sherlock Holmes to notice after a moment some strange connections between several men who were sitting separately and had not spoken to each other at all before the triumphant announcement. After a few minutes, two of them (not the winner) stand next to a young man and begin discussing the winning certificate. It turns out (what a coincidence) that the winner is willing to sell the prize for a certain amount of money. The young man looks at the certificate, takes it in his hand after a while and states with a smile that it is genuine and guarantees a win. Now not one, but three men begin persuading the young man to buy the prize, because if someone wants to sell it... a real opportunity!

The group is sophisticated enough to pretend among themselves that each of them wants the prize. One of the criminals shows his wallet, claiming he does not have enough cash with him, another gives the winner a phone and willingly exchanges it for the certificate. The winner of the certificate, a middle-aged man with an exceptionally sinister look and poorly dressed, says that the phone is too old. At that very moment, his eyes move to the new Nokia attached to the young man's belt. The young man resists; he is not interested in the prize. Now a fourth man joins them and also tries to convince him that it is a real opportunity. Neutral passengers only watch the whole situation. After several minutes, the young man gives in to the manipulation and persuasion of several middle-aged men, takes his SIM card out of the phone and hands the new device to the fraudster. In return, of course, he receives the winning certificate, and the organised group encourages him to get off the bus now and check the prize. The criminals, men who supposedly did not know each other, all get off together at the next stop - another coincidence? Did the young man receive the prize? The answer is obvious... Similar practices are used on long-distance buses; ideas vary, from the blatant theft of laptops to exchanging counterfeit banknotes.

An average tourist walking through a Chinese city may get the impression that everyone here loves playing chess and cards, that it is simply a hobby. Unfortunately, it is also a way of earning money. One man sits on a small stool or simply on the pavement and presents a certain chess arrangement (Chinese chess). Anyone brave enough can try to defeat him, of course after paying a certain amount beforehand. It is the same with cards; in China there are also various versions of three-card games.

There are also less malicious forms of fraud, although it must be admitted that they are quite original. Fortune-teller fraudsters are most often older men with unusual hats or long beards; they must create the impression of wise men. They can read the future from a person's hand and advise others what they should do to achieve success. The question arises: why cannot they advise themselves, change their own fate, because sitting on the pavement with a sheet of paper showing strange symbols, or outlines of hands and feet, is hardly an enjoyable activity - unless they are ascetics and hermits. Despite everything, they do not lack customers, most often young girls who, for a few yuan, want to find out when they will get married.

Besides frauds with a prepared scenario involving an entire group, there are also other, more obvious scams. At a market or in a small shop, it sometimes happens that someone tries to replace a genuine one-hundred-yuan banknote with a fake one. There can be many opportunities. It is enough that someone pays, takes out a real one hundred RMB note, gives it to a seller or a street vendor, and after a moment says that they have a smaller denomination, or the seller asks whether they have smaller change. The customer receives back an already exchanged banknote, does not check its authenticity, because after all it is their own money, just taken out of their pocket, and in this way they lose one hundred yuan. Perhaps this is exactly why most Chinese people always carefully check the change they receive in shops, while tourists from outside China generally do not have this habit.

Can the desire to make quick money also be called fraud? Probably yes, because if for a fan worth twenty yuan a seller expects one hundred yuan? Such practices are typical in the case of tourists and foreigners. Those laowai who emigrated to China long ago and have lived in the Middle Kingdom for several years know how to bargain and never take the first price seriously. But outsiders often simply get cheated. There seems to be nothing wrong with someone charging a higher price and expecting a white person (of course wealthy - according to Chinese beliefs) to pay more, but increasing the price four or even ten times is already fraud.

Tourists also fall victim to ordinary pickpockets. Such criminals lack ideas for sophisticated scams; they are desperate and determined to do anything, and in critical situations they may even injure their victims. Tourists are especially vulnerable to theft in large crowds, in city centres, on crowded trains, buses, or when crossing the extremely busy China-Hong Kong border. Tourists often take their luggage while getting out of taxis or carelessly take photos without watching their belongings. This is the perfect opportunity for a thief. Mobile phones, digital cameras, video cameras, hundreds of dollars, and even passports, which can also be sold, are excellent targets for an ordinary thief.

So if we are planning a holiday in China, remember to bargain and pay amounts appropriate for the value of the goods, or simply shop in reputable department stores, although their prices are certainly not more attractive than those in Poland. We should also not be too trusting towards people who want to exchange something, offer something, or urgently need to use our phone.

Chinese cities are home to millions of people, and not everyone can find an honest way to survive and provide themselves with a decent life. The number of wealthy people is growing, but at the same time there are more people who want to exploit the naivety and lack of caution of others and eagerly reach for someone else's belongings or money. Many people in China work extremely hard; they are not ashamed of handing out leaflets, collecting scrap metal, or street trading. Unfortunately, not everyone is equally hardworking and responsible for their own fate. Even if life is not easy, let us avoid fraudsters and not give them a chance for easy profit.