Amid a rising number of fraud cases, the Criminal Investigation Bureau yesterday urged the public to double check the identity of “relatives or friends” who ask for money in a telephone call.
Fraudsters cash in on the Lunar New Year holiday by impersonating an acquaintance to ask that a victim transfer them money, with older people making up nearly 70 percent of victims, the Crime Prevention Affairs Division said.
Citing a case, officials said that a Taipei man, surnamed Chang (張), received a telephone call from someone claiming to be the brother of his ex-wife who was in urgent need of cash.
Photo courtesy of the Criminal Investigation Bureau
Without verifying the identity of the caller, whose voice Chang said was very similar to his ex-wife’s brother’s, Chang added him to his Line app and transfered NT$50,000 to his account, believing that he would be repaid the next day, the officials said.
The next day the caller asked for another NT$30,000 and then became impossible to contact after Chang said that he could not send any more money, leading Chang to suspect that he had been scammed, they said.
In another case, a Kaohsiung man, surnamed Cheng (程), received a telephone call from an unknown number, with the caller claiming to be the husband of Cheng’s granddaughter and that he owed a debt of NT$180,000, and hoped that Cheng could help.
Wanting to help, Cheng visited a bank and wired NT$100,000.
An hour later, the man called again to say that the money was not enough, prompting Cheng to ask his wife to wire another NT$50,000 to the account, the officials said.
Cheng had not realized that he had been scammed until he met his real grandson-in-law at the funeral of a family member, they said, adding that Cheng reported the case immediately after the funeral.
The division urged people to be on the alert for fraud when they receive any phone call or text message requesting money, and not to make any transfer before checking the caller’s identity.
People could decide upon a secret code or term known only to themselves to verify the identity of a caller, the officials said.
Maintaining online security is also important. People should avoid using the same password for multiple accounts and not click on suspicious Web addresses, the officials said.
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