A teenage con artist is asking the press to leave him alone after he allegedly fooled former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) by pretending to be a tarot card reader.
Local media have jumped on reports that 16-year-old junior high school graduate Huang Chao-kang (黃照岡), using the alias “Huang Chih” (黃琪), had been scamming clients, including Chen, by pretending that he was a UK-trained fortune teller.
Huang reportedly has been doing business from an office building on Roosevelt Road in Taipei. A building doorman there showed reporters a mail logbook that contained the signatures of both “Huang Chih” and “Huang Chao-kang.”
On his Web site, Huang claims he learned to read tarot cards from a French astrologer when he was pursuing a graduate degree in England. Huang also said he worked as the executive administrator at the Sheraton Hotel.
But Web users began finding loopholes in Huang’s story when some of them suspected he was too young to have done what he said.
One Internet user said Huang did not give a clear answer about his UK experience and that when asked for more details, Huang quickly changed the subject, saying he was more familiar with France.
The Sheraton Hotel also confirmed they have never heard of Huang and that the establishment does not have a position called “executive administrator.”
Taipei’s Zhishan Junior High School said that a Huang Chao-kang enrolled in the school in 2005 and graduated in June this year but could not confirm whether the two Huang Chao-kangs were the same person.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅), who first said it was “impossible” that Chen went to an astrologer, said earlier this month that he had evidence that Chen visited Huang’s office in Taipei last month, adding that Chen “shivered and turned stiff-lipped” when he reportedly drew the “death” card during his tarot card reading session.
Chiu declined to reveal his sources, saying: “The main point is that Chen sought Huang’s advice.”
Chen’s office has denied the allegation.
Huang’s friend Tsi Yi (紫衣), also a self-professed psychic, told reporters that she met Huang a few months ago through mutual friends and that when the scandal broke out, Huang tearfully insisted to her that he was UK-born and that “Huang Chih” is his real name.
Tsi Yi said she recalled seeing a “reddish colored passport” listing Huang’s birth date as Dec. 12, 1985.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY TSENG CHIA-JUN,LEE HSING-FANG AND SHIH HSIAO-GUANG
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