TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Taipei man has transferred nearly NT$3 million (US$108,000) to a purportedly female online friend who asked for his support using various excuses over more than one and a half years, but it turned out the one who had been flirting with the man was another man.
In a press release, the Taipei City Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division said on Sunday (Jan. 23) that the division received a report from a man in September last year, alleging that a “female” netizen with a very nice looking Facebook cover photo befriended him in May 2020, CNA reported. Since then, they had often sent messages to each other via communication software or talked online.
The man said he fell in love with the online scammer without realizing he was actually falling into a trap.
After an initial investigation, police came to the decision that the scam could be the work of a fraud ring and referred the case to the Taipei District Prosecutors Office. The prosecutors’ office then cooperated with Taichung police to form an ad hoc committee for investigation into the case.
After investigation, the committee found that the fraud ring had been stealing photos of beautiful women online and using them as Facebook…
