Police have warned the public about online fraudsters using fake Web sites and bogus news to deceive people after a fake Web site purporting to be the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) published a phoney interview with a prominent Taiwanese chef about his investments in cryptocurrencies.
The Liberty Times reported the fake Web site to the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) when it appeared early last year and has published reports about it to alert the public to the issue.
The CIB said it used IP addresses to track the fraudsters to France, Germany, the US and several other nations.
The fraudsters’ latest victim was a woman in her 50s surnamed Yang (楊) who lives in Yunlin County.
Yang last month came upon the purported news report about the chef and clicked on a link on the page that was connected to a cryptocurrency trading platform, CIB officials said, adding that she followed the instructions on the platform, entering her name, telephone number and other personal information.
Soon after, Yang received a telephone call from a person claiming to be an investment specialist and she opened an account to invest in cryptocurrency, transferring a total of US$10,000 from her credit card, the officials said.
Three days later, Yang tried to transfer part of the US$10,000, but she could not access the money.
She then checked the interview with the chef and realized it was a fake news page and that she had been the victim of online investment fraud, the officials added.
The CIB urged the public to remain alert for online fraud and to guard against telephone calls from overseas that have a “+” at the front of the number.
People can call the 165 anti-fraud hotline and report criminal cases on the 110 hotline, it said.
Fake Web sites have an address that differs from a legitimate media outlet’s site, and they usually have a direct link to a page offering investment opportunities and money transfers, the officials said.
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