Taipei City Police Department

    Officers Xiao-Fan Bai and Xiu-Xiu Zhang of the Sanming Police Station, Songshan Precinct, were on 1500-1700 patrol duty on October 31 when they were notified of a possible case of telecom fraud at a nearby post office.

      The two officers arrived at the scene to find that an old lady surnamed Chen was in the process of withdrawing 330,000 NT Dollars, which she claimed was to help support a wedding for the son of a friend. Said ‘friend’ had seemingly promised to return the funds immediately after the wedding. Seeing through the scam, the officers first enlisted the help of the postal service to re-deposit said cash, and requested that the elderly dame verify the details of the loan with family and the friend in question. The Officers then accompanied Mrs. Chen home, whereupon counseling with the dame’s daughter they telephoned the friend, and found that there was in fact no wedding, and that the entire episode had indeed been a classic case of “acquaintance-impersonation” telecom fraud.
 

    Follow-ups reveal that 82-year-old dame Chen’s husband had also been a police officer, albeit many years deceased. Had the fraud syndicate been able to get hold of her money, it would undoubtedly spell doom upon the family’s livelihood. Therefore, the Songshan Precinct would like to promote the three takes against telecom fraud: “Take it slow, Take it calm, Take it with a grain of salt” for thorough verification of the facts is the key to stopping like crimes. The Precinct would also like to advise the public to dial the 165 Anti-Fraud Hotline if encountering any related suspicions.