Chinese Tricksters Take Advantage of Squid Game to Capture Creditors Reuters

By Ryan Woo, Ethan Wang and Yukun Zhang

BEIJING (Reuters) – In China’s take on the Squid Game, scammers are luring the financially troubled in the faltering economy with promises of paychecks, debt restructuring and other schemes that are not always promised.

Unlike South Korea’s dystopian TV series, which returns to the small screen for a second season on Thursday, Chinese players who take on “moral” challenges don’t risk their lives if they lose.

But courts have found some participants in self-isolation challenges – who pay hundreds of dollars to stay in a room for days, following prescribed rules in the hope of winning 1 million yuan ($140,000) – are they are being cheated. And regulators are warning people about dubious debt relief applications.

Isolation problems, often broadcast on Douyin, as TikTok is known in China, have grown in popularity this year as the world’s second-largest economy continues to slow. It grew at its slowest pace in more than a year in the three months to September, prompting policymakers to pledge new measures to boost household incomes among other measures.

The long list of challenging rules includes toilet breaks of no more than 15 minutes and restrictions on touching the alarm clock more than twice a day.

Many players cry bitterly when they don’t survive their first day for offenses caught on surveillance cameras, which they object to.

In October, a court in the eastern province of Shandong ordered the organizer to return 5,400 yuan ($740) in signing fees to a player named Sun, ruling that the contract was unfair and ” violate public order and morals”.

Sun was trying to win 250,000 yuan by surviving a 30-day self-isolation challenge with rules prohibiting smoking, use of electronic devices, drinking alcohol and contact with anyone outside room.

On the third day of the challenge, organizers said Sun covered his face with a pillow, breaking the ban on players covering their faces.

The Cyberspace Administration of China, which oversees the country’s internet, and ByteDance, Douyin’s owner, did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.

The National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA) warned the public on Tuesday not to fall for “credit brokers” who claim to help people restructure their loans or improve their credit scores.

Offering their services through phone calls, letters, flyers and social media ads, such agents say they can help secure new loans or provide temporary funding, but the regulator warned that the agencies’ services come at a premium.

Intermediaries charge about 12% of the loan’s value in “service fees”, said the state-backed National Business Daily.

Another scheme involves charging large amounts of money to help borrowers improve their credit records, according to the NFRA, which warned that borrowers’ personal information could also be leaked or sold.

China’s domestic borrowing reached 82.47 trillion yuan ($11.3 trillion) in November, according to central bank data.

($1 = 7.2988 lots)