Author and social activist Lin Yu-chih (
The 33-year old Lin, who suffers from osteogenesis imperfecta and is only 67.5cm tall, told reporters that the blackmailers had threatened to send pictures of him masturbating to his publisher and several groups for the disabled that he has worked with.
Despite the embarrassment to himself, Lin said he decided to go public in order to warn others of the dangers they expose themselves to through sexual contacts made over the Internet.
PHOTO: CNA
He also apologized for his behavior to the disabled community.
CHATROOM FRIEND
According to Lin, who has been a regular Internet user for the past decade, he met a young woman through a video chatroom three weeks after he had broken up with his girlfriend.
He said that he thought at the time that the stars had been kind to him, giving him another chance for love.
After three days of Lin and the young woman talking through an Internet chat room, she sent Web cam images of herself naked and masturbating.
He said this was the start of a period of sexual game-playing between them.
AGGRIEVED `SPOUSE'
However, the Internet relationship was disrupted by the appearance of a man claiming to be the woman's husband, who said he would get even with Lin.
Lin was then sent Web-cam photos of himself masturbating and was told that the man would distribute the photos to Lin's publisher and to organizations for the disabled that Lin has ties to unless the blackmailer received NT$200,000.
Lin said he negotiated the demand down to NT$150,000 before deciding that a criminal gang was probably behind the blackmail attempt and that he should go public to save other people from being caught in similar traps.
POLICE CONTACTED
Lin has given a statement to the police about the blackmail attempt. He said he hoped the blackmailers would be caught.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
RSS