Singaporean woman tries to meet Tinder date in Taiwan, gets warned by police about love scam

One Singaporean woman thought she found love, but found herself to be a target of a scam instead.

While travelling alone in Taiwan, the 24-year-old graduate student, surnamed Zhao, had agreed to meet up with her male online 'friend', nicknamed Chen Chen (transliteration), in Tainan to explore the city together with him as her tour guide, reported the Liberty Times Net.

As Zhao was waiting, however, Chen Chen suddenly sent her a brutal video of someone being assaulted for allegedly refusing to cooperate, and instructed her to buy NT$30,000 (S$1,261) worth of Apple iTunes gift cards. 

Frightened by the threatening messages, the graduate student hurried to a convenience store to purchase the gift card, but was stopped by a concerned store employee who noticed her panicked state and felt that something was wrong.

A spokesperson for the Tainan City Police Department's Second Precinct told local media that on Nov 4 at around 9pm, the station had received a call from a convenience store clerk regarding a Singaporean woman who might be a scam victim, reported the Taiwan Times.

Two officers immediately rushed to the scene to investigate, where Zhao recounted the turn of events to them. They then explained to Zhao that this is a common online dating scam technique, and she should not believe the man.

"The woman had met the other party on dating app Tinder and ended up falling for his ploy," said the police spokesperson, according to Shin Min Daily News.

According to the Chinese evening daily, Tainan police also revealed that her online 'friend' had claimed to be a male model from a nightclub. The man's 'agent' had reportedly asked for a 'meeting fee' and told the woman to wire money first if the duo wished to meet up.

Thought police colluding with crime syndicates

Local media outlets also reported that Zhao initially did not believe the police, as she thought they were colluding with crime syndicates.

Police bodycam footage showed her telling the officers that she had never met her 'friend' in real life, saying: "My friend told me that the Taiwan police and crime syndicates are associated with each other, so I was scared of calling the police.

"What if you hand me over to him (Chen Chen)?"

After repeated assurance and explanations, the officers eventually convinced Zhao that her online 'friend' is a love scammer. 

She revealed that she thought she could fall in love with her online ‘friend’ and did not expect to be a target of a love scam.

Zhao also told officers that she was afraid that her 'friend' would be able to find her as she had previously sent him a photo of her identification card. Investigations reportedly found that the man does not live in Tainan, according to Shin Min.

After the incident, the officers brought Zhao back to her accommodation and she thanked them for their assistance, reported local media.

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lim.kewei@asiaone.com

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