As of Saturday, 73 cases have been reported this month in which people have been scammed by online offers for masks, Criminal Investigation Bureau officials said yesterday.
Demand for masks has surged amid fears of a COVID-19 outbreak, and shortages have forced the government to ration masks to two per person per week to be purchased at pharmacies contracted by the National Health Insurance Administration.
Some of the scam victims, whose ages ranged from 20 to 60, were prompted to purchase masks on online shopping sites, or from people selling them on Facebook or other social media platforms, officials said.
They were promised that couriers would deliver their package immediately, but after they had wired the money the seller would disappear and could no longer be contacted, officials said.
A woman in Taichung surnamed Chen (陳) said that she saw a seller advertising surplus masks on Facebook.
She said she initially wired NT$55,000 for 50 boxes of masks, but then the seller claimed he had more stock because other people had canceled their orders, and offered her a discount price.
Chen wired NT$200,000 in total for 400 boxes, but the items did not arrive and she could not contact the seller, she said.
She found other people who had allegedly been swindled by the same person, and so they filed a police report together.
The bureau said that there have also been cases in which people received calls from people claiming to be health authorities.
The fraudsters said that there had been a problem with the person’s health insurance card during recent visits to doctors or clinics, and asked that they provide their personal information, the bureau said.
Fraudsters have also been trying to get people to click on links to Web sites offering free masks to phish for personal information.
People can verify anything they find suspicious by calling the bureau’s anti-scam hotline at 165, or the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s toll-free hotline at 0800-030-598, an official said.
In other developments, Keelung police this weekend rounded up six Thai women for questioning. They were allegedly working as prostitutes in the city’s red-light district, and only had visas for short-term visitors.
Police said that they were concerned, as the women did not wear masks while allegedly providing their services.
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