Fool’s Gold: Fake Antique Livestreams Prey on China’s Elderly

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In recent months, livestream scams targeting the elderly with counterfeit antiques like coins, pottery, and artwork have surged. Victims’ families have now banded together online to share advice, file complaints, and reclaim lost money. By  Ding Rui  and  Yin Ziyuan Instead of going to work or picking up his grandchildren from kindergarten, Kou Xiaoxia’s father, Kou Shoule, has squandered his savings on a sinister new addiction: Binge-watching livestream shopping channels for fake antiques, a scam that has cost him nearly 300,000 yuan ($42,000) since March. “Our whole family has tried to persuade him (to stop),” rues 32-year-old Kou from Weifang in eastern China’s Shandong province. “He won’t listen to a single word I say. Every time we talk, it turns into an argument, ending with him accusing me of hindering his path to wealth.” From 9,999 yuan for a single bronze zodiac animal head purportedly from the Old Summer Palace in Beijing to 2,380 yuan for a piece of blue ………………………………