Woman conned by FB ‘friend’ claiming to be American: police

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/10/25
By: Liu Chien-pan and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Oct. 25 (CNA) A Taiwanese woman working as a private tutor in Yilan County was swindled out of a large sum of money over the past few months by a Facebook friend claiming to be a U.S. national, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said Sunday, releasing a fraud warning for virtual communities.

The woman surnamed Huang lost nearly NT$340,000 (US$10,464) in cash to the man, whom she said she became acquainted with on FB in August, the CIB said in a report.

Calling himself “James from the United States,” the “friend” had since early September began to find excuses to borrow money from her, such as being robbed, suffering from a shortage of money and being unable to use credit cards, the woman was cited as saying in the report.     [FULL  STORY]