On Wednesday last week, Taiwanese writer Luo Yi-jun posted on his Facebook page an account of a scam he encountered while taking a taxi. The taxi driver shared with Luo a distressing story: a former client had ran away with his money, leaving him in debt to the tune of several million New Taiwanese dollars. The taxi driver said he could no longer afford to pay his rent and was about to be kicked out by his landlady. Luo initially felt sympathy toward the driver, but the more he listened, the more each passage of the sorrowful tale seemed strikingly familiar. Luo then remembered he had taken this driver’s taxi before: “His lines, including a call he pretended to take from his landlady telling him to clear out of the apartment, were word-for-word exactly the same as before.”
Luo described the taxi driver’s appearance as an educated and cultured middle-aged man. He started out telling Luo his apartment had no air conditioning and that he had once worked as a stockbroker, until one of his clients ran off, leaving him NT$27 million (US$860,000) in debt and with his home repossessed.
Listening to the story a second time, Luo resisted an urge to tell the driver he had heard a similar story before from another taxi driver. Thankfully he didn’t, he said, because at that moment the driver said he needed to take a phone call. From the conversation Luo understood the driver was being asked to move out from his apartment that evening. After ending the call, the taxi driver said he had saved NT$30,000 but had to use the money to pay for his mother’s funeral.
Photo: Chen Yi-chuan, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者陳奕全
In his post Luo said: “At this point, I knew what was going on. Several years ago I took a taxi, and the driver used exactly the same lines and took exactly the same phone call from his landlady.” The first time Luo felt nothing but sympathy, this time Luo said he was filled with anger.
Luo said he listened in silence as the driver bemoaned the cruelty of the world. Luo anticipated a follow-up call from the landlord, and sure enough, the driver again picked up his phone and launched into a realistic performance.
Luo said he felt extremely sad and really wanted to tell the driver: “Excuse me, but I’ve been in your car before. You don’t need to continue with the performance.” But he didn’t dare.
Facebook users left messages under Luo’s post: “I remember this story too. You couldn’t make this stuff up;” “This gave me a feeling of deja vu, pretty sure I’ve heard this story before” and “Life imitates art.” One commentator urged the author to report the incident to the police: “If you made a note of the license plate number, you can prevent others from being taken in.”
(Translated by Edward Jones, Taipei Times)
台灣作家駱以軍二十一日在臉書發文，搭計程車時碰到「詐騙劇場」，一位「愁苦」的運將向他訴苦，因客戶捲款落跑欠債數千萬，繳不出房租即將被房東趕走，駱以軍原寄予同情，後來越聽越覺得整個橋段相當孰悉，當下就想起他搭過這位司機的車，「竟然台詞和接電話被房東太太趕，這一點都沒更改」。
駱以軍形容這名小黃司機是個相貌文氣的半老之人，先是訴苦所住的公寓沒冷氣，再提到自己原本是在證券公司上班，因為大客戶捲款落跑，欠債兩千七百萬、房子也被扣押。
駱以軍正想告訴對方，以前也遇過一位有類似遭遇的運將，「還好我沒說出口」，因為這時司機表示要「接個電話」，從對話中可見司機因繳不出房租被要求晚上搬走，掛上電話後又說他原本有存款的三萬元，但拿去處理母親的喪事。
駱以軍在臉書表示，「這時我心裡已確定怎麼一回事了，我一兩年前就搭過他的車，竟然台詞和接電話被房東太太趕，這一點都沒更改」，他還記得當時非常同情對方，「這時我內心則充滿憤怒」。
駱以軍表示，他之後沒有搭話，聽著對方「如泣如訴的說世態炎涼」。他還在想「這次怎麼少了一段，房東先生再打電話來的橋段？」，沒想到下一秒司機就拿起電話，「演的超逼真」。
駱以軍說，他當時心裡非常難受，很想告訴對方「對不起我搭過你的車，你這樣繼續演，真的很糟，但我終還是沒敢」。
這篇發文下方有網友留言「我還記得之前那一篇，太戲劇化了吧！」、「才想說有既視感，之前似乎聽過」、「人生真如戲」，也有網友呼籲他報警，「車牌若是記下來，應該可以提防」。
(自由時報)
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