Internet romance scams are on the rise, with close to 1,000 cases and more than NT$260 million (US$8.68 million) in losses reported last month, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said.
A bachelor surnamed Liu (劉) in northern Taiwan joined a group on Line that was headed by a person claiming to be a business manager who could introduce women to Liu for a romantic relationship, a CIB officer said on Sunday, citing a case from February.
Liu was contacted by a woman who used the name “Dream Elegance” on Threads and they chatted for a few days before she introduced him to another woman, who went by the name “Morning Sunshine,” the bureau said in a statement.
Photo: Screen grab from the Criminal Investigation Bureau’s Facebook page
Morning Sunshine and Liu would send each other friendly and sweet messages every day, and he eventually fell in love with her, it said.
“The woman soon told Liu that they should meet up for a date and obtained his mobile phone number. Liu then received calls from a manager claiming to represent Morning Sunshine and told Liu he had to pay a ‘verification fee’ before meeting the woman in person,” the bureau said.
Liu followed the instructions, buying an Apple App Store card and paying for 16 items that totaled NT$80,000, it said.
However, when the so-called manager called again asking him to pay for more items, citing other reasons, Liu realized something could be wrong and called the 165 anti-fraud hotline, which told him that he had fallen victim to an Internet romance scam, it said.
Citing another case, the bureau said that a woman surnamed Wang (王) in central Taiwan in January on Line befriended a man named “Lucas,” who claimed to be a military doctor working for a UN agency in a war zone.
“After chatting for a few days, Lucas said his son had fallen ill in the US and that he urgently needed to pay for the medical bills so he asked to borrow some money from Wang, promising to pay her back when he returns to the US,” the bureau said. “He gave Wang instructions on how to wire the money to the US using a bank ATM as well as through in-person transaction at a bank.”
“Lucas repeatedly promised to pay her back each time she sent him the requested money. She wired at total of NT$293,500. However, when Wang found that Lucas did not pay her back on the promised dates and began to evade contact, she realized she had been scammed and reported it to the police,” the bureau said.
The CIB reminded people who are involved in online romances that if the other person starts asking for money, it is definitely a scam.
People should also not believe people who promise big profits from stocks and other types of investments or ask them to download investment apps, it said.
Otherwise, you might get cheated out of your money by scammers, the bureau said.
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