When I was little my grandpa fell off his bike in Shanghai during his daily commute to the market. He had an ongoing heart condition and most likely had a heart attack during his ride. He was left on the road for 2-3 hours unattended and ignored before someone decided to help. It was already too late, he passed away. There really needs to be some kind of crackdown by local authorities on this sort of scam.

Here in Canada, we have "The Good Samaritan Act", which blocks someone from suing a person, who helps them... Sounds to me that China needs similar legislation... I remember, one of the last such law suits. A Doctor stopped at an accident on a highway and helped the victims... One, subsequently died from their injuries. The family of the deceased, tried to sue the Doctor for Malpractice and it went nowhere... The case was thrown out immediately... The Act actually encourages people to help others... :-)

I read an article on a phenomenon in China where people who hit someone with their car are actually backing over them and running over them again to make sure they're dead. This is because hitting and injuring someone means you could pay for care for the rest of their lives...hitting and killing someone is a one time fine.

I had a scam happen in Jamaica when I was with my family on a cruise. We were in a gift shop and there wasn't anything good to buy so when we walked out a door designated exit. When I opened the door to leave the statue fell over and fell apart behind me (it had been pre-broken so it would fall apart). I heard it fall and turned around to see the shop owner yelling at me and my parents to pay him $500 for this P.O.S ugly statue. My parents weren't having it and the ship was leaving in an hour so we just walked out with him yelling at us. We got down the road and I turned around to see him putting the statue back together and sitting it next to the door so when you opened the door it would fall apart. We got back on the ship and told the boarding person what had happened and they said they had 3 other people have the same thing happen to them that day. I think there is a similar thing in China with gift booths.

He certainly likes taking of his glasses

This happened to my father when he was young in China. He helped a elderly lady who fell off her bike and was injured. My father grew up poor because his parents died young and he has 3 other siblings. He just started working and dating my mom at the time and doesn't have a lot of money and whatever he was making he had to help pay the bills for his siblings. Out of the kindness, and my father has such a kind heart, he got off his bike knowing he might be late for work and helped this elder lady to the side of the road. Once he helped her, she started screaming bloody murder and garner a crowd. She claimed my father was the one who ran her over and she's seriously hurt and needs to go to the hospital. The crowd took the old lady's side and forced my father to take her to the hospital and pay for the hospital bill. Ever since that day, my dad never helped a stranger again. He always remind me of this story so I wouldn't go helping strangers. I feel bad because my wife who doesn't know this story always thinks my dad is so sweet, patient, and kind. But she didn't know that one bad experience turned his heart into stone and now he wouldn't help anyone who's not his family.

In the Netherlands, you can end up in jail if you do NOT help someone in distress.

I don't even really care to travel to these places but your channel is so interesting, I can't stop watching :)

I know in the States there are some laws usually referred to as "Good Samaritan laws", where if a bystander helps someone, they can't be sue for injury or damages while helping that person. Here in Poland, you are required by law to help someone that has been injured. In fact, the police will stage a fake accident (like a faked motorbike accident). If you notice and don't at least ask the guy if he's ok, you could get ticketed.

My least favorite China scam. I have had old people jump out while I am driving by, and it almost seems deliberate.

it's not old people r bad, it's just some bad people growing old. I kind of agree with that. Most of these broken- vase-people were "Red Guard" during the "cultural revolution " and they've done a lot of bad things but felt proud of doing that because of the twisted values in that special period.

We've had a touch of this scam in Taiwan too. My wife cautioned me more than once, saying "If you must help someone on the street, first park your bike far off to the side so that it is very clear that it was not you that hit them. Then go ahead and help." Every now and then surveillance footage of one of these scammers shows up on TV. It's been a huge boon to those selling automobile video recorders! Occasionally you'll see someone with a video cam on their motorcycle helmet too. Everyone wants protection.

what is an FBI agent doing in China :P

Thank you for making and sharing this. It's such a shame.

I had something similar happen to me in morocco actually. It was a 4 or 5 year old ran into my leg rather obviously, got down cried for about 2 second and reached up to demand money. I had been warned about that kind of stuff, I was taken back that it was a 4 year old. The kid followed me for half a block until I barked at him. I still feel bad for doing that to the kid and I'm still pissed I had to do it at all. It's been almost 6 years.

disgusting practice......but good tip for passersby.

Chinese should learn from Russian. Camera in every car. Google should sell its glasses to every Chinese. It is a big market.

Now I can comment, I am so glad. This is what this country or its people lacks, justice.

Thank you for making videos. In school people look at me like I’m stupid. I always get A’s. But when I watch your videos I feel like I have a friend, who’s having an interesting conversation with me. I love it, it’s much better than having a conversation with my “friends”.

These people are also putting their lives at risk! The sad thing is that drivers also are terrible. There are cases where the driver has went back to drive over the injured to make sure they are dead. Paying a one time fee for killing a person is a lot cheaper than paying for their fees for the rest of their life. It's sad.

After loosing 9 years of my life and around $400,000 of my savings while trying to help someone who was at a well planned out scam I say let them be and walk as far away as you can possibly get or run run run and keep running

Unless Chinese society changes drastically, i'm staying the hell away from it unless it's for buisness.

Really loving the scam awareness video's it's a great cause and you're doing the world such a favor making these. Certainly planning to visit China one day when the financials allow me to. But once they do, the least I want to happen is for it to be the last time I can afford it because of some lousy scamm. Keep it up!

The fundamental problem of this scam is the lack of developed social security system in China. Some news also showed that those scammers actually have illness (e.g cancer) which cost a lot of money to get treatment and it needs to be paid by themselves and/or their families. So the scammers thought about this idea to trick other people in order to reduce their families’ burden. I hope one day there will be a mature medical insurance system so people don’t need to worry about selling their houses to have enough money to go to the hospitals.

My first year un China, I was in Shanghai and I was a car run into an old man on a bike, and it wasn't a bad hit, actually it was pretty light, but the old man had to have been like 70ish years old. I ran to help him but my chinese friend pulled me back for the exact reason SerpentZA explained.....I was realled sad cuz I was hoping he was ok, but yeah, that was crazy. It's a complete contrast to Japan, where I live now, cuz Japanese people, whether you are foreign or Japanese, will run to you and rush you to a hospital if needed, especially in a smaller city. Tokyo...ehhh....maybe....

they caught a guy in vegas lying down slowly in the entrance to pretend he had falling , and sue . to bad for him it was on camera , he was charged with fraud . lol

I got a personal injury settlement ad on this video lol. Nice vid.

love your videos. keep uploading.

Perhaps you should explain the "broken vase" in context. It means literally some scammer bring a cheap vase to a crowd, intentionally breaks it on someone, and claims someone made him dropped it for expensive vase compensation. This type of scam is so common that almost every Chinese was a victim (or almost a victim) at some point.

Most Chinese only care about one thing-- money

I know about this and that's why I got really scared when an old women living in my building ( I didn't know her ) was sitting on the stairs crying , first thing I thought was what if it's a scam ! I was paralyzed from fear and asked whats wrong ! She said that she could not walk up the stairs , her knees hurt bad and she was crying cause she couldn't accept the fact that she was old now ! when she told me she lived upstairs I was a little relived and started helping but still I was risking by helping ! she could have been lying ! Lucky me she was a really nice women ! isn't it the worse when some people ruin it for everybody !!

Commenting 3 years too late here, but it's such a thing that it made it to the movies. I recall seeing a Chinese movie a few years ago about this ..... basically an old guy in the countryside, middle of nowhere, falls victim to a hit and run driver and is left for dead (in the snow). A couple hours later the people in the next car stopped to help, essentially life savers, but the old guy (at the insistence of his family actually) decided to accuse to the "helpers" of hitting him. Long story short, the helpers would have lost everything they owned to pay the old man's medical bills, but after a back and forth drama between the families and legal system, the old man's morals got the better of him at the last minute and he admitted to the scam. Would be nice to think these scams are less these days, but somehow I doubt it.

The problem is that unlike the west, China has no "good Samaritan" protection legislation. This is primarily because helping others is not that common in China and never has been. Chinese are very caring inside of their own families...no problem there BUT they are very cold when it comes to helping others. You see it when they come to live in the west. Even little things like a thank you wave for being let into a lane of traffic which is common place for westerners Chinese simply do not do. They view such politeness as weakness.

The moral decay in China began since the beginning of cultural revolution. It is slowly recovering but the destruction is so great and extensive that bad things are not likely fixed in the next generation or two. Thanks to Mao for giving all Chinese a bad name.

thanks for this, i will not help old people now in China :D

Tnx for making these WInston, your drinking etiquacy video earned me big respect with local folks. Most of the Chinese I met so far are decent people. A few rotten apples are normal to come across

Hahaha I saw this on M*A*S*H*! And that was filmed in the 70's and set in Korea so indeed this is an old problem.

Thank you about these!

New to your channel... I love it!! Thank you for your vids. I almost moved to Shenzhen as an undergrad to teach English, through my university. Keep them coming!

I seen videos in liveleak of people doing this scam in China. But there's this one video of the scammer succeeding in getting purposely runned over, but the driver comes out, looks and then shoot and kills the dude and he gets back in the car and them runs him over and leave the scene and never gets caught.

I was just watching a man in Dongguan a few days ago stepping in front of buses at the bus station. He did it like four times before one didn't notice him, then he'd hit the back of the bus and hold his neck. Deplorable!

Serpentza keeping the world safe and informative since 09

Thank you so much for making this video!

My goodness gracious me. But so glad to hear you say "don't let this thing rob you of your humanity" that's very sound advice Winston and so glad I found your channel. It's really opened my eyes. I would still love to visit China and won't let these things put me off.

Bad people are getting old this is true. Those old people don't deserve to be respected because they don't respect themselves. People are getting smarter when facing this 'bad elders', there are many ways for us to help whoever needs help while protect ourselves by hand of law. When bad things happened, remember to stay calm and sharp, and photo everything.

Hi Winston, is there any repercussion to these people that try this scam?

Here in the States, there's a law called " The Good Samaritan" that PROTECTS an individual who's helping someone that's had an accident.

It’s like the saying says “ if one apple gets rotten then all of the apple gets rotten”.

This happens in Russia too, all the time. There are some rather astonishing videos on YT showing it being done....and for the same reason as in China. This is why most Russians now have dashcams running all the time, so that they have a defense in court.

This guy has probably save hundreds of tourist in china from the hassle, time and money of all these scams by spreading this info. Keep up the work Winston.

we rode a bicycle taxi about a block one hot day, the driver said 5 rmb but when the ride was over he told us it was 100 rmb, because im american and rich and I should pay him what he wants, thankfully my wife was bad ass and put that kid down...

Very interesting and informative video Winston. Good work!

yeah unfortunately because these type of scams happen, people are scared of helping out each other. That's why when I try to help people in China, it horrifies my friends because they were concerned that I will get scammed.

i wanted to help an old guy down some steps but my wife said no. she told me why exactly like this. I've been pissed off at her for 2 years thinking it couldn't be true.

Exactly bro Don’t let our humanity fall before us.Thank you for video.God bless you brother from Carl in England UK

Subscribed. I find your videos absolutely fascinating. I've spent some time in Taiwan, but Mainland China seems so, so different.

Well done. Good documentation.👍

This is not really a good scam... What happens if the driver is very careless and just run them over? And they run away... And also nobody help them?

Ever since I lost a bunch of money on the stock of a Chinese company which turned out to be completely bogus I look on all things Chinese with a jaundiced eye, which I know is sad. Stories like this do not surprise me. I am familiar with Chinese philosophy which emphasizes sincerity, authenticity, benevolence and so on, but these things belong largely to the past it seems. I would never want to live in the society you describe.

Here in germany you can a) get sued for not helping someone who got an Heart Attack and stuff. And b) even if you Break someones rips giving him a Heart Massage because it stopped you can't be sued for it

Don't wanna get sued? Make sure you go for the double tap 😉

I definitely never helped anyone in public in China especially as a foreigner - I know this sounds terrible but this is reality - I had a couple incidents in Beijing where people tried to get money out of me but I luckily was able to just ride away (on electric bike) - I saw one video where a lady laid down in front of a car but unfortunately the driver didn't see that she was in front of her car and ended up running over her and killing her - unbelievable !

I got scammed with the tea ceremony scam in China but I went to the police and got most of my money back.

Wow, I did *not* expect a 4mat song on a serpentza video.

Just help them and run :D Feel like a criminal for saving someones live.

they don't help people in trouble because it is chinese tradition that who ever saves some one, that good samaritan becomes responsible for the one he saved for the rest of his life.

Love how you include little old-school chiptune/demoscene tracks in your videos.

thanks for these brilliant educational videos. yeah i heard that before... when someone is hurt or fighting, don't get involved!!! run away.. although, I'd be first to help anyone usually. pity it's too risky. cant wait to experience the whole thing though.. amazingly different.

Hi Winston your doing a great job making very naive people. Aware of what's out there ! What their parents should have taught them ! and didn't. God Bless

I had a bum in NYC once crawl out in front of my car while at a red light. The crowd on the street helped me out lol go New Yorkers!

Man, I love your videos! I know you upgraded your camera, is it only me or the videos look like having more "depth", almost like a more realistic 3D feeling? Very nice!

Thanks for videos! Really appreciate it!

Who sues children for attempting to help them with noble intentions? That is just beyond immoral!

here in Germany it takes alot of time and money to sue someone, nobody sues anyone easily, so no one would even try to jump in front of other peoples cars or have something break on purpose to get compensation, because it could take about 1 year or longer to close that case and nobody got time for that crap (also not knowing if you will win the case at all or not..). here are 'just' people stealing your phones and wallets on the train or bus, still not as many cases as there may be in other countries, but just keep an eye on your belongings and you should be fine (mostly if you are an asian tourist, dont try to look like a tourist... and dont carry lots of cash and expensive technology-items with you.. you'l be the number one target, because everyone knows the asians are all about money and being or looking rich). also if somebody asks you for help at a train station, like for example a woman with her baby-buggy, needing help to carry it up- or downstairs, do NOT get distracted and keep an eye on your pockets ! my friend lost her phone because she just wanted to help a woman with her baby-buggy . this thing doesnt happen often but it does happen once in a while, so beware.

You have a TV voice which is very nice. Thank you very much, that's very useful. We learned about Chinese scam. Very best wishe.

I'll never forget a situation in Zhu Hai, a taxi had rolled over on the highway, a group of people had gathered to look, the taxi drivers cash tray had turned over and the notes were blowing in the wind, the crowd scattered to gather those notes, quite a sad scene with the taxi driver still hanging upside down..:(..

Bad people have gotten old. I can believe it.

I "love" this scam and its version. People running in front of/into you and play the dieing man, because YOU hurt them, while its them who run into you and you are the one who can get hurt or take damage to your vehicle. My favorite version is this guy here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/rayeqNqop9SwZZc.html

Love your work Winston! 👍👍

Actually, I rarely help people in the street. That is almost always a scam in my country. The person just disappears and buys alcohol. That is it.

funny thing is I live in new York and the same thing happened to my mom when she was driving a Asian lady jumped into the car and acted like she hit her but didn't touch her she hit the car with her handbag and called her husband then called the cops started acting like she was hurt and layed upside down funny thing is same thing happened to her husband and in the exact same spot he told us she sued because she said she couldn't be with her husband don't know wtf she means by that but what ever

your extremely observant. others are so clueless about their surroundings

What does this have to do with broken vases?

"It's not that old people are bad, but bad people have gotten old", great line!!

They should put those idiots in jail for at least 5 years.

what is the emergency medical help number in China?

thank you. which of your other videos would you recommend. My family, the wife myself and 3 kid will be in China later this year. 3 months time. I'll remember this

We need to update the old story of the good Samaritan. Once upon a time a Samaritan came across someone who needed help. He had been robbed, stripped naked and left by the side of the road. The good Samaritan took care of his injuries, clothed him and put him up in an inn at his own cost until the victim could recover. The victim made a full recovery and then sued the arse off the good Samaritan and took him for every cent he had.

with glasses , Jason Statham xd

What on earth is with the passers by staring at the camera??? Do they not have anything better to focus on?

around 2010, an elderly man on a bus tried to sue the bus driver when he himself actually fell

Hi, I'm visiting Hong Kong on the 17 May and debating whether to spend time in Beijing. I'm wondering would the process of getting a visa be easier in China rather than England. I know a single entry visa for someone from the UK is £ 80

I see you are into chiptunes. I am into chiptunes too. brother.

Wow! You are so charming!

This is one of the reasons you see so many dashcam videos out of Russia (and a growing number of other areas). Insurance companies either refuse to insure (or charge a significant markup) a driver who doesn't have a dashcam. In Thailand, a colleague bought his dashcam, after an acquaintance had an old lady lay down behind the rear of his car, complaining to bystanders that he had run her over. In that case, the driver was saved by a car behind him, who had a dashcam (it probably didn't help her case that she was alive, had no visible injuries, and claimed to have been completely run over, by both tires).

There are alot of similar stories like the one about the old woman that was hurt suing the children, think it was in Qingdao Shengdong province an old woman got hit by a car, and a couple went to help the old woman, and in return she sued both of them telling the police it was they who hit her with the car, and came back to help her. Since then people that gets hit just get to lay on the road and people avoid them like the plague as he says, women children doesnt matter, people just walk straight by as they dont exist. Thats what happen when people cry wolf to much, and people get either tired or afraid ignoring the problem at hand.

In fact she would have if it wasn't for those kids and that pesky dog!!!

Scammers are the low of low

The problem with "insurance" policies like that, is that when it comes time to pay out the insurance policy, it actually behooves the insurance company to take the position against you and claim that there is enough evidence to conclude that you were in fact guilty.

we had a problem like this here in Los Angeles where cars would brake in front of you, you would hit them, and they would sue you for injuries, and the car behind you was their "witness". After an intense investigation over many years, the Scam involved; doctors, lawyer, cops and even judges. Everyone was getting a piece of the action. Shame!