A fraud group pretended to be the chairman of an association to defraud money. Employees of the two associations were targeted and one person lost 1.5 million yuan.

The fraud group pretended to be the chairman of the association, used fake Gmail accounts to send letters to employees of the association, and tricked the organizers into setting up a LINE group privately. (Photo by reporter Yao Yuehong)

Recently, there have been frequent fraud cases in China pretending to be the chairman of an association. The fraudsters used fake Gmail accounts to send letters to employees of the association, tricking the organizers into privately setting up a LINE group on the pretext of official business, and then requesting remittances in the name of paying public funds. One employee of a clinical psychology association suffered a heavy compensation of NT$1.5 million, while an employee of another AIDS nursing association was alert enough to see through the scam and was not fooled. The Criminal Police Department calls on all agencies and organizations to be more vigilant.

The Criminal Bureau pointed out that the fraud group first disclosed information on the Internet to obtain the organizational structure and names of directors of various societies. At the end of August, employees of a clinical psychology society received a letter showing the name of the chairman. The other party asked employees to create a LINE group on their own. Not long after, That is, on the pretext of paying for medical equipment, employees were induced to remit 3.5 million yuan one after another. It was not until the employees discovered that the LINE account did not match the real chairman. After verification, they were shocked to be deceived. Although the police urgently intercepted 2 million yuan, they still caused a loss of 1.5 million yuan.

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Coincidentally, at the beginning of this month, employees of an AIDS nursing association received a similar letter requesting payment. Fortunately, the employees noticed something was wrong and immediately called the police.

The Criminal Bureau calls on all agencies and organizations to be more vigilant and any funds advanced on behalf of others should be reconfirmed according to the existing procedures.

The police remind all agencies and organizations to implement fraud prevention principles such as "check the account number, verify the identity, and reconfirm before making the remittance" when receiving emails from supervisors instructing them to make remittances. If you receive an unknown Gmail message or a sudden request to create a new LINE group, you should check with the person through existing channels such as the phone.

In addition, any request for advance funds or official expenses should follow the existing payment review procedures and be confirmed again and again. If the public has any doubts, they can call the 165 hotline, or use the AI ​​intelligent customer service assistant on the 165 Anti-Fraud Dashboard website of the Police Department to help identify fraud risks and fraudulent websites to protect property safety.