Scam City: Hong Kong - Going Undercover to Become a Sugar Daddy & Meet the Triads | Free Documentary

foreign cities famous for their culture and Beauty but there's something else waiting in the shadows the scammers the hustlers the thieves and they're all looking for tourists to con stay against the wall Russian Roulette are you joking me I'm Connor Woodman and in scam City I set myself up as baits it's like being kidnapped a willing victim to be fleeced I'll catch the scammers in the ACT do you know where my wallet is and reveal the tricks of the trade because wise too dangerous and I'll expose them face to face we are filming you scamming me scam City I get scammed so you don't have to [Music] I'm in Hong Kong far off the Beaten Track on my way to meet some new friends Hong Kong's notorious gangsters the Triads do you think there's any part of the shopping and The Nightlife that isn't controlled in part by Triad games like yours foreign Paradise perched on the edge of China the world's manufacturing Powerhouse nearly 50 million tourists visit each year most of them from mainland China bringing with them disposable fortunes [Music] and of course there's no shortage of locals waiting to help them unload their cash well two of the main reasons for coming to Hong Kong are The Nightlife and the shopping and the tourists here spend a lot of cash on both and this may have a reputation for being one of the safest cities in the world but one thing I know is wherever you get tourists and cash you also get scams China may be all about Newfound wealth but there's a real appetite for things from the past [Music] there's a thriving Antiques Market here Hollywood and Cat street is the center of this trade with cash Rich Mainland Chinese in the market prices are high and business is booming but I'm in the market for Scouts [Music] that's nice [Music] okay one set yeah and one set there you go Disco go it's gold yeah okay is it very old how old um thousand thousand years a thousand years old and these are how this thousand thousand years old which Dynasty is that Ching no no Ting tan tandemic a thousand years old back home I'd have to go to a museum to find something like this is for drinking it is from Hong Kong or from China or China it's tan Dynasty yeah and it's 1800 Hong Kong thanks thank you one one yeah okay thank you thank you thank you well I've bought an item for about 240 which apparently is from the tan Dynasty it's a cup found in mainland China that makes it about a thousand years old now call me suspicious but something about that doesn't quite ring true so my next Port of Call is going to be someone that can value that for me and tell me whether that in fact is the genuine article or not [Music] hello there's some nice stuff can I show you something the person that sold it to me told me it was a thousand years old do you think that's a thousand years old in Hong Kong yeah both in Hong Kong you know you're better you know you're right because you don't you don't want to get them in trouble yeah foreign where are you born you know and can you back to because the crash between datas I am sorry yeah well I've been to a couple of places on Hollywood Road now to get my piece valued and I'm not sure whether there's some kind of solidarity among shop owners going on here or what but they're all saying that they don't recognize that piece or know what it's worth or how old it is I'll have to find another way to check whether I've bought the real deal when the sun sets and the Neons turned on Hong Kong streets start to feel like a science fiction movie set [Music] [Applause] [Music] all the actors are out playing their parts on this beautiful illuminated stage I hit a street cafe for a front row seat foreign [Music] [Music] first time in Hong Kong where are you from me Thailand we're in Thailand Bangkok yeah what's your name Connor Kiki hi KiKi how are you for a drink yeah yeah why not that's a blatant pickup and I'm big enough and old enough to know she's after something but what yeah cheers [Music] ladyboys are pretty common in Bangkok but I didn't expect to meet one here in Hong Kong she'll have some tricks up those silky sleeves tomorrow [Music] yeah I've been to Bangkok a couple of times one bar leads to another as she works me out thank you for some kind of Black Widow so I've just tasted the crew and they've replied to say that she hasn't gone anywhere near my dream which means she is that makes me even more confused [Applause] okay hi I'm your boyfriend it's moving quite quickly I don't know it really just met okay let's go okay you want that one yeah you again [Music] call me okay taxi yeah how much for a taxi when you live China 100 is good okay she's had a 13 taxi ride and a few drinks but she's got my number and she'll be back [Music] foreign [Music] this place is like the perfect designer City everyone gets what they want bargain shopping and friendly locals the views are spectacular it's difficult not to be seduced here last night I had an idea about my Chinese antique what if I tell them it's not from a local dealer so can I ask your advice I bought something when I was in mainland China and I'm just wondering before I knew sorry it's a coffee it's a copy it's not real No Deal new one new for sure okay so it's not a thousand years old no if this one is original it costs more than a million Hong Kong so it might be a fake let's get a second opinion hey hi how you doing yeah I can't help you can I show you a piece of bronze and maybe you can tell me I'm could you tell I'm seriously yeah oh it's not very old it's not new it's new I I can teach you to see it can you see it the color so how do they make it how do they make this bit look older they put a color maybe many way I don't know how to scare you to eat in English but this is now the people very easy to do it they will make perfect pieces to sell it so this pieces is new right okay so it's definitely not a thousand years old yeah no no no no no definitely well telling people this was from mainland China seemed to do the trick they were a lot happier to tell me the truth about this and the truth is it's not a thousand years old because if it was it would be worth 100 000 US dollars if you take a closer look you can see that there is new brass on the end of the feet and that's because they've made it look older on the rest of it now that I know all that I think I've got the information I need to go back to the shop see where they have to save themselves hello the piece that I bought I just been to speak to a few other experts in the area and they showed me to see the uh the new brass this is a classic sign of a copy because the chemical the chemicals come on let's be honest I don't want my money back I'm not here to have an argument about it it's fine but you know and I know that this was made in a factory in China probably in the last couple of months she's on the back foot and she calls in the boss when do you think that was made dish was made uh about a thousand years back I can check the date for you check the date yeah interesting because all the experts that I spoke to up on the Hollywood Road they all say it's made in the last year what they also said on the Hollywood Road is that if that really was a thousand years old it would be worth tens of thousands of US dollars maybe even a hundred thousand US Dollars the reason is yours is fake no the reason is we pay cheaper rent and they pay higher end and if this is really a thousand years old you can sell for ten thousand dollars if it's made in a factory in China I can sell it to a tourist for 250 and make a quick profit and that was happening here even a faith when you have to sell for 230. so it is a fake one you sell it for 230. now we're getting somewhere it doesn't matter it's a fake or real it matters to me imagine is the item not just to me whether it's real or fake if you tell me it's a thousand years old I want it to be a thousand years old I don't want it to be one year old so what can I say when I was 20 when I joined this line my boss telling me one day the customer always right you can never argue with a customer so customer always right okay so this customer says yes you think it is very okay that is Faith you think it is real one that is real one so you are always right this is a whole new retail philosophy to me he didn't sell me an antique he sold me a story now comes the nitty-gritty okay and I say you paid about maybe five bucks for that well maybe even less up to your knowledge maybe even less tell me and I'll go if I buy a hundred pieces will be cheaper than you you buy only one piece you pay five dollars I buy a hundred pieces maybe I pay 50 cents for the same material really so you could buy a hundred of those for foreign that's the truth you can buy a hundred of those for fifty dollars no I cannot I'd be 110. oh let's come down it's coming down no I'm talking about 100 pieces but then how could you buy a hundred pieces of that yeah unless it was a fake I'm clogging New York my point of view is that you'd be lucky to find a hundred thousand year old fakes too lucky he's starting to go round in circles did you ever hear of a factory in China that just makes these maybe makes hundreds of them maybe thousands maybe this means you got to make a mole first make a mold you got to make a bowl first yeah the mole costs you more than the product that means you have to make at least ten thousand to cover your course of the more you think they made ten thousand of those at least if copy to me where you get these from Mainland Mainland only Mainland can be that cheap because the mainland have nothing to pay for their labor wherever whatever however money comes Trickum that new gangster everything what they fight for money he ushers me out of his shop the truth is it is really brought in Mainland the truth is it was made a month and a half before a month and a half yeah not yesterday [Music] he took the buyer is always right principal to a whole new extreme I wanted facts about the fake antique business and he tried to bamboozle me with relative theories of Truth But whichever way you look at it it was all about money everybody is fighting over the money including gangsters [Music] the antique dealers confession makes me wonder who are the people making Dirty Money In This Boom Town prison here he said he'll take me on a tour of the neighborhood of it all right come on up how are you yeah I'm fine nice to meet you yeah me too yeah okay let's have a walk and talk yeah sounds good right I used to be a policeman working in this area you're a policeman yeah yeah yeah yeah 40 years ago wow okay how do you go from being a policeman to becoming a pastor now when I was a policeman five years here at that time there's a lot of corruption gambling or prostitution or gangs activity yeah I was in one part of the activity as well as a policeman you were involved in legal activity yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah and after five years in the police force I was arrested and put in jail as well yeah you were put in jail yeah yeah because of the corruption how long were you in jail for uh two years wow and after then I'll become a Christian when I was in a drug rehabilitation center okay so are you using drugs yourself yeah yeah yeah my heroin yeah so I was involved in drug trafficking in this area too a former bent cop who dealt drugs and took them too just the kind of guy I need to take me behind the neon curtain do you still come into contact with a lot of those people oh I've made sure there's a little discounts of people most of them from the gangster background now we're going to this part is the central part of the retina District Temple Street so here is more gang's activity and prostitution okay so we we might a little bit careful be a bit careful yeah yeah okay this is a low-cost prostitution here yeah it's a girl hiding her face yeah my left hand side is the gangster my 11's eyes against they're protecting this kind of girl the guys there that we just walked past yeah yeah yeah yeah okay the girl is hiding her face gangsters hidden in plain sight if the pastor hadn't pointed them out I'd never have known they only allow one house one prostitutes yeah okay so if there's one prostitute in in one house that's okay it's okay yeah they speak Mandarin for men in China they come here want to get some fast money so it's uh 138 yes a massage massage 138 is it for 15 minutes is it really massage or is it something else yes yes sure okay for three hundreds masculation yeah 300 Hong Kong dollars a trip for you normally we charge the tourists the 400 500 why is it cheaper for me another sales pitch this time complete with flattery and a discount they only do the massage um what's the vision okay if you want to do the real stuff sexual intercourse then you have to go to other places yeah saw the camera yeah okay even though I know but I will not tell you the business because we have competition she said I will find a good lady for you that's full sex full sex Mainland Chinese girl yeah yeah yeah I should say yes how long you been in Hong Kong Hong Kong is the place you earn money not the place for living better than working in a factory in China [Music] it's legal to be a prostitute in Hong Kong a lot of camera man here what are you guys filming today yes special we're aware of the police inside yeah police are inside that the police doing a raid here or something yes are you journalists yeah a man is taken away his identity kept secret [Music] I think they are undercover police says are you guys undercover policeman the undercover was this a I can't tell you well you don't have a uniform so I'm guessing you're Undercover is a monography DVD pornography DVDs yeah yeah yeah pornography yeah they have four stage this is called stage four stage four is with the essential intercourse it's a prostitution's legal but pornography is illegal laughs corn pimps and gangsters there's dirty money being made here but who's controlling it and would you say most of the gangsters are old Hong Kong families or have they come in from mainland China no from the basically is from Hong Kong so it's still very much controlled by Hong Kong gangs Triads yeah yeah to try it so what would be the best way if I wanted to meet those kind of people what would be the best way for me to do that I think [Music] easy in front of the camera you have to use secret cameras yeah even the secret Grandma they are very smart against them they're very smart I can call you and if you if you bump into any of those guys that you think of anyone else it might be interesting for me to meet okay fantastic the Triads are an ancient Chinese crime syndicate their criminal activities are shrouded in secrecy so it's not going to be easy to meet them they don't have a Facebook page [Music] it's morning and I've got a date with my new best friend Kiki and guess what she wants to do shopping hey how are you let's see you good yeah are you okay yeah good yeah what are you looking for today yeah did you spend a lot of money on makeup yeah foggy what color do I think suits you yeah I don't know if that one suits you I guess yeah probably this one okay I think I need some nicely are you buying loads your me space but am I lending you the money or you tell me one thousand five hundred and fifty dollars wow that's a lot you need all this yeah wow I just bought you a lot of makeup [Music] why don't you try it on yeah try on I've already spent over 200 on makeup for and now she's trying on a dress which I'm pretty sure she wants me to buy for her as well I've got no idea what's going on and what I'm supposed to be getting at this experience is it really as simple as just buying stuff for her or is there a longer game where I could lose a lot more you like it hundreds yeah when are you gonna wear that in Hong Kong okay no are you gonna buy me a present you buy me a present now you want to buy me a Tommy Hilfiger it's all back sorry I buy for you okay buy a bag yeah well coach small bag from coach which one which one you like that one yeah yeah that's nice isn't it yeah how much is it yeah okay one thousand two hundred and fifty dollars sorry honey I just don't have the cash you've spent all of my money you don't have any more money come on out do it over here you don't have a bag all right well we'll go Bagless yes well if you include the money I spent last night with the dress and the enormous bag of makeup I just bought then the total amount of money she's taken from me is north of about 400 but I've got a feeling that's only the beginning she's going to take me for a lot more foreign the most densely populated place on the planet the heartland of Hong Kong's Triads and a center for the Region's counterfeit goods and electronic markets I get the feeling that everyone down here is trying to hustle and buck Buddhist or Buddhist monk wow oh you're from China come on then I could do with some luck to be honest in this town this is for luck yeah and how much does that cost foreign ly I found something that's not for sale I'll just give you a donation twenty dollars and tell you why can't you tell me oh what's happening you know you protect the people are you a secret police no no no don't feed that don't take that don't say your secret police no no no don't say that but that's fair your special secret please are you carrying a gun no don't need that you don't need it don't touch your arm wow okay okay go ahead thank you yeah Hong Kong Batman he's like someone from a Hong Kong movie but it's hard to tell whether he's a cop or a gangster one thing's for sure he's rattled the money the holy man you're not really a monk are you what's the what's up how much more do you make in Hong Kong than you would make in China a day wow it's worth being here as he explains his life story a passerby signals to me but I think he's a real monk huh you don't think he's a real monk not real money it's greedy yeah oh yeah he's gonna make a run for it okay thank you yeah okay he knows you busted him yeah yeah but in the end he demands to the same thing monks aren't allowed to beg on the streets of Hong Kong and maybe that's what the warning was about I think goes unnoticed here foreign [Music] T she set up a meeting with a Triad gang member he'll meet me in a bar overlooking the harbor [Music] 45 minutes is a long time to enjoy The View either I'm being wound up or stood up [Music] [Music] I'm sure Kiki is trying to get me on an advanced sugar daddy scam I'm already in for a few hundred dollars but I see that as a down payment on unlocking the secrets of what she's really up to hey hello beautiful isn't it come in Sudan how are you [Music] are you well yeah you like the dress yeah okay no theme to knock them back Kiki looks great but she's not exactly my type a bit demanding hello for you hello you like my hairy arms and my hairy chest kiss you yeah no I think I might give you the wrong message cheers [Music] champagne champagne we order champagne yeah I pay right yeah if she wants me to fall for her she's going the wrong way about it it's hot and my patience is wearing thin so what is this this what what is happening here paying at all I am I can do you're my friend yeah none of her friends don't friends buy each other drinks friends buy each other presents I'm not married no tonight you're my friend for me but okay okay I don't think so I don't think that's anything that's what happened I'm not your boyfriend yeah [Music] um is this your job that you phone people and then you ask them for money is it that simple it's a lot of effort for a handbag and a few drinks my friend for me tonight I cannot be a boyfriend for you no you boyfriend for me no no no yeah how much money do you want 1 million so there it is she wants a hundred and thirty thousand US dollars to pay for an amicable separation and what happens if I say no I'm not paying um you call you call in my hotel give me money tonight so it's a black male sting I'd pay up or I get embarrassed at my hotel by a [ __ ] nice I don't know why I have to pay you money one million give me money you're not no no you give me money I'm not gonna give you money no I'm not gonna give you money Kiki because you don't believe any of this you're not you're not really a girl this is all just a load of Deceit and nonsense time to come clean do you know there are people following us you know they're people with cameras spotsy the people walking around with cameras the tables are turned Kiki isn't happy I'll be here I'll be here it takes a bit of persuasion but finally Kiki agrees with the help of a translator to reveal her techniques as a transvestite blackmailer how do you go about finding a tourist to pick up but is it important that they look rich look like a rich man yeah and do most guys recognize that you're a transsexuals how much money do you think you make from this when we were going to break you wanted me to give you to give you money to break up yeah you and me do anything you don't give me money I lady you met and do people give you money when you you break up with them and how much money can you make um did anyone ever give you money for separation after they've just had sex with you how much money thank you is it valuable ring okay and is that the most you ever got from one guy yeah I started out thinking she was a black widow and then thought she was looking for a sugar daddy but once you stop handing out the sweets she turns into an extortionist but it's been bugging me what's been going on here for the last couple of days but now I can see what's actually happening is quite a Sinister scam and it's not light-hearted or at all fun because what she's trying to do is to get you to feel like you're in some kind of relationship and if that's potentially embarrassing to you then she's got you exactly where she wants you because she can then get you to pay her to leave you alone foreign [Music] I've seen things in Hong Kong that most visitors never see foreign I've had a glimpse into its underworld but I'm still no closer to finding out who pulls the strings the Triad Trail has gone cold I didn't pass my rooftop audition or did I [Music] it's my last day in the city when I get another call from the Triads [Music] they want to meet the location a karaoke bar 40 minutes Drive Away close to the Chinese border foreign I've been stood up by these guys before but I'm still on edge the Triads are one of the most feared crime syndicates in the world the karaoke bar is deserted we roll the cameras and I walk through the endless Maze of soundproof booths looking for Triad members [Music] the gang will only talk when they're ready and on their terms did you grow up in Hong Kong and when did you start getting involved in criminal activities where do you sit in the hierarchy of your Triad gang yeah and how does one reach the top foreign how do you profit directly from those activities so how does it work now with with mainland China in the business by banding money um [Music] how much would a good girl earn for you in a week um foreign are you involved in other activities such as counterfeit Goods is daily I mean do you think there's any part of the shopping and The Nightlife that isn't controlled in part by Triad gangs like yours you come across as being very business-like and calm and I'm wondering are there times when people step out of line and there has to be another side to you foreign foreign plc what is it that makes Hong Kong so good at organized crime thank you very much foreign [Music] the scams on the streets of Hong Kong are being run by the Triads like a well-oiled machine it's all about the money and nobody here wants to be the person that draws attention to that much better that everyone just quietly gets on with the business of making money [Music] it's extraordinary that the notorious Triads agree to talk to me but it almost felt like a PR exercise just another multinational corporation promoting itself Hong Kong is a glittering Marketplace a Shopper's Paradise where everyone gets what they want especially the person selling it [Music] thank you

Channel: Free Documentary

Views: 566,921

Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full documentary, HD documentary, documentary - topic, documentary (tv genre), scam city, scams, Hong Kong scams, Hong Kong

Id: 8eoj3lLYHlQ

Length: 47min 12sec (2832 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 28 2023