Retiree loses over $80k to man who claimed to be veteran Taiwanese singer
A woman realised she had been scammed after losing over $80,000 to an individual posing as former Taiwanese singer Fei Yu-ching, and who claimed wanted to marry her.
According to Shin Min Daily News, 71-year-old Huang Xuilian said she received a text message from a man who identified himself as the veteran singer in August last year.
The retiree, who was at the time receiving treatment for a terminal illness, began conversing regularly with the individual she thought to be Fei, and whom she was a huge fan of.
Fei, who was a prominent singer and TV show host in Taiwan during the 80s and 90s, retired from the entertainment industry in 2018.
On one occasion, the man confessed his feelings for Ms Huang, adding that he wanted to travel to Singapore to visit her.
Believing what the man told her, she entered a relationship with him. During this time, she also brushed off a friend’s concerns and warnings about the relationship.
Not long after, Ms Huang opened a bank account, at the urging of the man. She activated that account's online banking function and gave the man login information and password.
She also closed her other bank accounts and transferred about $20,000 into the new one, and then another $12,000 after the man claimed his own bank account was frozen and that he needed money to retrieve a package stuck at Singapore customs.
After noticing that $11,934 had been taken out of the bank account on Sept 23, 2022, she panicked and confronted him. But he convinced her that he was truly in love with her and not out to cheat.
She then gave him another $10,000 down the road.
Only when $80,000 had vanished from her account did she realise she had been cheated.
She made a police report soon after when the man became uncontactable.
She tried contacting him on Facebook as recently as Feb 5, asking him to return the money as she needed it for her cancer treatment and chemotherapy, but did not receive a response.
Ms Huang told Shin Min that she wished to warn other seniors of such scams, and also vowed never to speak to strangers again.
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