The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) has warned of a scam in which fraudsters impersonate police and judiciary officials to convince a target to transfer money to “official” accounts, something the bureau said police and investigators would not do.
A man in his 50s, surnamed Lin (林), fell victim to such a fraud after being contacted by a person claiming to be from their cellphone service provider’s risk management division, the CIB said in a statement.
The person told Lin that his identity had been stolen and that fraudsters were using his phone number to send investment scam messages. The caller urged Lin to communicate about the issue through a Line group called “165 Anti-Fraud Promotion,” named similarly to the National Police Agency’s 165 Anti-fraud hotline.
Photo: Screen grab from the Criminal Investigation Bureau’s Facebook page
Once in the group, Lin was told to join other Line groups, such as the “Taichung Police Criminal Investigation” and “Taichung Chief Prosecutor,” which were operated by the fraudsters, with the latter including a picture of Taichung Chief Prosecutor Chang Chieh-chin (張介欽).
Pretending to be investigators or police, the fraudsters convinced Lin to transfer an estimated NT$30 million (US$1.02 million), including his savings and other holdings, an account they said was overseen by judiciary officials and provided Lin official-looking documents.
Believing he was working with the authorities, he followed all of their instructions to transfer money, change the deed of his property and register accounts in their names, the CIB said.
After following their instructions, the fraudsters asked Lin to delete all the Line messages and go to a Taichung police station as the “final step” of the investigation.
At the police station, police informed Lin he had been the victim of an elaborate scam, the CIB said.
Police and investigators would not ask people to transfer accounts and property for their protections, it said.
Sixty-six percent of victims of such impersonation scams are aged 50 or older, and the scams lead to an average loss of NT$2.82 million per case, which is higher than from investment scams (NT$1.49 million), it said.
People should check up on older family members to alert them to such fraud and to prevent them for falling into impersonation schemes, it said.
“Fraudsters are good at deceiving older, retired people, calling them at home and convincing them they are under investigation,” the CIB said.
Impersonating police or investigators, the scammers convince the target to transfer over money and assets, claiming they are needed to aid the investigation, it added.
The fraudsters typically obtain some personal data from a target to convince them of their legitimacy as an official from a government agency, a hospital or a large corporation, before saying they are involved in a criminal case and must work with them, it said.
The scammers then use fake Line groups, phone numbers and documents to keep the ruse going, the CIB said.
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