Undercurrents: Tracking 1,084 Accounts

The “Dark Web” scam compound in northern Myanmar uses AI face-swapping, romance scams, and other methods to drain Professor Zhou Guohua’s 6 million yuan in retirement savings in just three hours. His son is also coerced into becoming a scammer. Su Yue, a police officer at Binhai City’s anti-fraud center, discovers that the group launders money through blockchain, and 1,084 linked accounts are set to be emptied in 72 hours.

To trace the flow of funds, Su Yue goes undercover as a “hound” in a cryptocurrency exchange, only to fall victim to a deepfake attack orchestrated by the scam ring’s boss, “Spider.” Her face is replaced in real time with that of a wanted criminal, making it look as though she is murdering someone on a livestream. When a raid by foreign police fails and the hostages’ lives hang in the balance, Su Yue risks everything to launch a hacker counterattack. With 17 minutes left on the countdown, she injects the scam ring’s virus code into the trading system, making 3 billion yuan in stolen funds loop back on itself and freeze.

When the smoke clears, the Zhou father and son recognize each other through the glass of the intensive care unit. Then a warning suddenly appears on Su Yue’s terminal: the serial number on a banknote matches the flight number of the plane “Spider” used to escape...