In a performance worthy of a Razzie, a man was caught on camera spinning and jumping in front of a car on a Hong Kong street in an apparent attempt to stage an accident.
A video of the incident was posted to a Facebook page called HongKong CarCam on Tuesday.
In the video, the man – who is wearing a white T-shirt with black shorts and a mask on his chin – can be seen walking suspiciously on a street believed to be Sai Yeung Choi Street South in Mong Kok.
A black car, which is approaching him, slows down and stops.
The man continues to walk in circles and keeps looking at the car, appearing like he is waiting for it to come closer.
Noticing no movement from the car, the man suddenly decides to jump, spin and throw himself onto the car, acting as though he was hit by the vehicle.
He ends his over-the-top performance by lying on the street.
The video has since gone viral, attracting 560,000 views as of Wednesday afternoon.
A Facebook user, believed to be the driver of the car, posted another video in the comments section showing his dashcam footage of the incident.
The time stamp of the video shows the incident took place on Monday at 1:47pm.
He thanked a fellow driver for telling the scammer off.
Many netizens took to the comments section to make fun of the man.
One said his acting was too exaggerated.
“Extras are also actors, can you be more professional,” said another.
Another internet user asked if the man was part of a toy company, which was accused by netizens of setting a trap for a boy who knocked over a human-sized Teletubby sculpture by leaning on it slightly and asking his parents to pay HK$33,600 (US$4,281) for it.
“Are you trying to get the remaining HK$20,000 (US$2,548),” said the netizen, referring to how the designer Laa-Laa toy’s original listed price was more than HK$50,000 (US$6,370).
Staged car accidents are common in mainland China with fraudsters trying to extort money from motorists. However, they are rare in Hong Kong.
