Scams 2019 Netflix jdorama review

 

Forgot about to write about Scams when I saw some time ago and I ended up rewatching it when I reactivated Netflix for Alice in Borderland. Scams is a prime example of how lack of budget does not matter when the story is good.

Scams is basically a handbook on Japanese phone scams. If you have watched a few jdoramas, you should be familiar with 'ore ore sagi', where the caller pretends to be the son and say its me (ore ore). Scams is about a more sophisticated version of ore ore where one person plays the son, another a policeman and the third a lawyers and say that the son got in trouble and compensation money is required. On a side note, the ore ore scam has arrived in Australia as the 'hi mum' scam. 

Scams is the story of Kusano, a young man is fired from his job and whose father's requires expensive medical treatment. Kusano's friend introduces to a job withdrawing money from ATMs and this leads him down the path of phone scams where he has to go through rigorous training to be selected to be on the scam team.

What is interesting about Scams are the leaders to the scams justifying their actions because the old people own most of the wealth in Japan while young people are doing it tough. There is this funny scene where the boss takes the apprentice scammers to see happy old people playing golf and in the pool. This anti old Japanese people because they got rich during the bubble is very similar to the anti boomer sentiment going around in Australia because the boomers worked in an era where houses cost only 2 times their annual wage and they experienced huge wage growths. People who are poor or have limited opportunities will resent people who they perceive to have had an easy life.

Scams is a fun jdorama with some likeable and some unlikeable characters doing very bad things. I also liked how Kusano's mom was a carer for the elderly which ties in with the down with the elderly theme of the show and how she also resents the people that she has to care for and ultimately helps Kusano with a victim's list. 

Watching Scams made me think about how many organisations have my name, address, email etc. Even some places when you order food using QR codes they want your name and number. As long as hackers have a list of names with info, they just need to scam 1% of the people on the list.

Scams is very memorable and relevant jdorama for today. Masato Wada really made an impression as the person who teachers Kusano how to scam. If you have Netflix, be sure not to miss Scams! Watchable.