The said son made the scammers believe that they would receive additional investments, and eventually helped his father recover the NT$700,000 (more than VND 544 million) he was tricked into investing, according to the newspaper. South China Morning Post December 26.
Illustration photo
This incident was revealed by the victim’s son in an article posted online and then reported by Taiwan’s EBC News channel on December 17.
Details about the father and son, including their names and ages, have not been released.
According to EBC News, the father, who lives in Nantou County in central Taiwan, became a victim of an online investment scam. The online scammer pretended to be a woman and continuously flattered him, convincing him to invest NT$700,000 in cash.
“The fraud group called my father ‘father’, constantly asking, ‘how are you? Have you had dinner tonight, Dad? Dad, did you sleep well? They kept asking about his father’s health,” the son told EBC News.
The father installed an application introduced by the fraud group on his phone, which announced that the total investment amount had increased to NT$1.3 million (US$40,000), and the profit was more than NT$600,000. bad.
But when the father was eager to withdraw his profits, the scammer said “he needs to reach a certain amount before he can withdraw”.
The son became suspicious after his father complained about not being able to withdraw money. “After my father shared, I went home and started watching anti-scam videos on YouTube. I came across a video in which the YouTuber said: “You need to come up with a lure bigger than the amount you lost to get chance to get my money back,” the son recounted.
“Inspired by that, I decided to implement a similar strategy by using my father’s phone to reconnect with the scammer,” the son added.
The son pretending to be his father told the scammers that two friends wanted to invest NT$500,000 and NT$1 million, respectively.
As the conversation went smoothly, the son changed strategy by appearing to urgently need money to solve a family problem, asking to withdraw NT$700,000 from the profits given by the phone application. see.
At first, the fraud group was hesitant, but the son spent many hours convincing them, even playing three roles, including the role of two investors who were interested and seriously asked about investment details.
Finally, realizing the lucrative opportunity, the fraud group agreed to return NT$700,000.
Soon after, the fraud group continued with their plan, claiming the app now showed profits of NT$2.35 million but required a tax of 5-10% to be paid before the father could withdraw any amount. However, the father was no longer trapped.
The son’s ingenuity has received many compliments online. “This is truly anti-fraud work,” commented one online observer.
