Sat, Jan 08, 2022 page14

• Police foil fake daughter’s attempts to swindle pining mother 假女兒騙錢陷害老婦成共犯 幸高雄警二度攔阻

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  A Kaohsiung woman in her 70s, surnamed Huang, had an encounter with fraudsters who pretended to be her daughter in order to swindle her out of NT$100,000, but failed in the attempt. Not to be discouraged, the fraudsters still tried to launder money through Huang’s account, which would turn her into an accomplice, but luckily the police and the bank blocked the scam both times and prevented the fraud gang from tricking Huang again.

  According to the police investigation, 73-year-old Mrs Huang is a housewife who lives alone. She lost contact with her daughter more than five years after the daughter left home in a fit of anger and went to work in northern Taiwan, but Huang has missed her daughter all along. On Dec. 7, she received a phone call from a scammer pretending to be her daughter and asking to borrow money. Huang fell for the ruse and nearly remitted NT$100,000 from her retirement pension, but luckily the bank staff were alert enough to see what was going on and report it to the police so they could help them prevent the scam.

  However, on Dec. 27 Huang received another phone call from the bogus daughter, who said that she wanted to remit NT$1.34 million to Huang’s account for work-related reasons and asked her to remit it onward to the account of the fake daughter’s “cousin.” The scammer went on phoning Huang to make sure she was doing as requested.

  

  A bank teller assists a 73-year-old customer at a bank branch in Kaohsiung on Dec. 27. 銀行櫃員在高雄一家分行協助一名七十三歲的客戶，攝於十二月二十七日。

  Photo courtesy of a reader 照片：讀者提供

  Huang missed her daughter so much that she believed the story and did not realize that this is a method that fraud gangs use for money laundering, so she went to the bank and asked how to remit a large sum of money. Realizing that something was amiss, the bank staff contacted the police. As soon as the Jiagong Police Station of Kaohsiung City Police Department’s Nanzih Precinct received the report, officers hurried to the scene to handle the situation by helping the bank staff to dissuade Huang.

  The police told Huang that this is a common money laundering technique used by fraudsters, and that if she received illegal funds and remitted them onward, the fraudsters would be using her as a mule account. Huang missed her daughter so much that she was still worried about having a bad effect on her daughter’s work, so she was still not sure what to do.

  The police proceeded to take Huang’s cellphone and talk to the fraudsters. They asked them to state Huang’s daughter’s name, but the fraudsters could not answer. Seeing that their evil intentions had been found out, they simply hung up. Fortunately, the police and bank staff were able to block the scam in good time, otherwise there would have been dire consequences.

  

  An infographic warning bank customers to avoid mule account scams. 一幅警告銀行客戶避免人頭帳戶詐騙的資訊圖表。

  Screen grab from the Association of Banks in Malaysia Web site 圖片摘自馬來西亞銀行協會網站

  The police acted as a bridge between mother and daughter by phoning Huang’s daughter, who works in northern Taiwan, to tell her how much her mother missed her and how her mother had been tricked twice for her sake, nearly losing all her savings and almost falling foul of the law. They urged Huang’s daughter to phone her mother, saying that no matter how big the grudge between mother and daughter might be, they should still try to get over it. Huang’s daughter accepted the police’s advice and said she would go home to spend Lunar New Year with her mother.

  (Liberty Times, translated by Julian Clegg)

  高雄市一名七旬黃姓老婦遇詐騙集團假冒「女兒」，騙她十萬元未果，對方竟然還想透過黃婦洗錢，並陷害她淪為共犯，所幸警方與銀行二度阻詐，避免詐騙集團再欺騙黃婦。

  高雄警方調查，七十三歲的黃姓獨居老婦人是家庭主婦，因女兒負氣離家北上工作，母女失聯五年多，她一直很思念女兒。十二月七日接獲詐騙集團假扮的「女兒」來電借錢，竟信以為真，差點匯出退休金十萬元，所幸行員機警發現，通報警方合力阻止詐騙。

  不料，黃婦十二月二十七日再接獲「假女兒」來電，對方稱因工作需要，要匯款一百三十四萬元到黃婦戶頭，請黃婦代為轉帳到「假女兒」的「表妹」戶頭裡，並持續與黃婦通電話，監控她是否照做。

  黃婦因思念女兒，竟信以為真，不知道是詐騙集團洗錢手法，前往銀行想了解如何匯出大筆款項，行員察覺有異通報警方，楠梓警分局加昌派出所獲報，立即趕赴現場處理，與行員一起勸說黃婦。

  警方告訴黃婦這是詐騙集團常見的洗錢手法，若接受不明贓款後再轉出，將被詐騙集團利用成為人頭帳戶，黃婦因思念女兒，仍擔心影響女兒工作，當下猶豫不決。

  警方直接拿黃婦手機，與詐騙集團對話，反問對方黃婦女兒的名字，詐騙集團答不出來，見事跡敗露，當場掛電話，所幸警方與行員及時攔阻，否則後果不堪設想。

  警方扮演母女溝通橋樑，打電話給黃婦在北部工作的女兒，告知母親思念女兒的心情，為了她二度受騙，險被騙光積蓄，還差點誤觸法網，並勸說黃女打電話給母親，母女再大心結都應化解，黃女則答應警方會回家陪伴母親過年。

  （自由時報陳文嬋）

  Publication Notes

  DID YOU KNOW? 你知道嗎？

  A mule is a cross between a horse and a donkey. Mules are used as pack animals that can carry loads over difficult terrain such as mountain passes. Consequently, they can be used for smuggling in rugged areas. By extension, the word mule is also used figuratively to describe a person who carries contraband, especially narcotics, or someone whose account is used for illegal transactions such as money laundering.

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