A man in New Taipei City narrowly escaped an online romance scam after quick-thinking police officers intervened and protected him from being extorted.
According to reports, the 20-year-old, surnamed Lü, is unemployed and cares for his bedridden father. Recently, he connected on Facebook with someone claiming to be a former high school classmate. After some casual chats, the person invited him to meet for lunch in Banqiao. But shortly before the supposed meeting last Friday (19th) around 2 p.m., the scammer called Lü and demanded he buy NT$50,000 (≈RM7,000) worth of gaming credits to hand over to a man nicknamed “Brother Chen” as a “deposit.”
When Lü hesitated, the caller escalated the threat, saying gangsters would be sent after him if he didn’t comply. At that moment, Lü spotted a police car parked outside a nearby convenience store and rushed over for help, explaining the situation in detail to the officers.
Police immediately recognized the tactic as a classic online dating scam. While they were calming the frightened young man, the scammers called again. Picking up the phone, the officer noticed the caller’s accent was clearly not Taiwanese, announced his police identity, and snapped: “Stop harassing our Taiwanese citizens!” He then advised Lü to block all related accounts.
Officers also phoned Lü’s mother to inform her of the incident and personally escorted him home. Upon seeing his mother return from work, Lü broke down in tears saying, “They were trying to scam me.” Police reassured the family that no gangsters would show up, explaining the threats were only intimidation.
The entire intervention was witnessed by bystanders, one of whom later dialed 110 to praise the two officers for their swift action and dedication—an example, locals said, of the true spirit of “protecting and serving” the public.
