Taipei City Police Department

  One afternoon, Officers Yeh, Xun-Hung and Shen, Yu-Wen of the Zhonglun police station, Songshan Precinct, TCPD, received a report from a local community headman, who stated that one of the community members seemed to be subject to a fraud attempt, and was in dire need of police assistance. In order to prevent property loss, the two officers promptly rushed toward the scene.

 
  It was discovered that a Ms. Lin (born 1947) had received a phone call from a “fraudster”, who claimed to be a police officer. The imposter informed Ms. Lin that her bank account had been hijacked by known members of a scamming syndicate, and that to prove her innocence, she had to withdraw a tidy sum of 400,000 NT dollars. This money would then be collected by an “associate” at a nearby alleyway near her house.
 
  Ms. Lin did not hesitate to carry out these instructions, and waited at said alleyway per the imposter’s orders; however, seeing that the “associate” hadn’t shown up, she spoke to her neighbors about the ordeal. The neighbors, sensing a plot gone awry, informed the community headman at once of the situation, and thus involved the real authorities. It was only when officers reached Ms. Lin’s house, that the true nature of this case of “Imposter Fraud” was revealed in its entirety.
 
   Officers Yeh and Shen calmed Ms. Lin’s startled nerves, and cited numerous cases of relevance for her information. Their vigilance succeeded in securing Ms. Lin’s savings, and after all the dust had settled both Ms. Lin and the headman thanked the officers for their timely assistance.
 
  The Songshan Precinct would like to inform the public that the authorities (prosecutors and police alike) would never ask for account credentials or conduct interviews over the phone; these tactics are instead commonly utilized by phone scammers, who largely target retirees or housewives between ages 50 to 70. Target groups must therefore be doubly wary of “Imposter Authorities Fraud”, and if in doubt, all citizens are advised to call the NPA’s 165 anti-fraud hotline, where assistance is provided 24/7.