Scammers like this bounce to another place after they burn enough people. It sounds like he’s about there. The only cash flow he probably has for escape is his restaurant. If you find a way to fuck with that for him to pay you off to go away, that’s your best chance.
Think of his employees, you think they will show up to work if they knew he probably isn’t paying their next month salary?
I said it before. Pay him a visit at his restaurant. Be loud. Be angry, but don’t lose your shit. Make sure that customers understand what is going on, talk about police, scam, debt, that you need YOUR money and that you don’t care about his problems because you have many problems too. Don’t threat directly with any illegal measure because there might be cameras or phones recording this. Indeed, maybe you want to record the situation too.
Listen to this man.
Isn’t there a form that can be filled out at post office for these situations?
But watch out for kitchen knives.
[edited by mod]
I might go with at least a friend.
Well his chances of a scammer paying him back is zero, unless he goes there.
Then he will disappear soon. If you got any kind of receipt I would go directly to his shop and raise a ruckus. Then call the police and say there’s a ruckus going on. If he can’t come up with the money before they get there threaten charges of theft, fraud, or whatever applies. If you don’t have a receipt or any type of evidence trail (SMS, emails, a witness) there’s not much you can legally do. Fear of a ruckus is the best you’ve got. But to be honest, it sounds like he’s fobbing you off until he can vanish. If he has financial trouble and that’s not just an excuse, he may not be in a place you can find him for long.
Always always book online. The only time I didn’t since the internet was a thing was when I had a complex situation taking a dog to another country.
Try getting the police to go with you
I would love to see a documentary on the Indian expat community in Hsinchu. That would be interesting.
I came to know that even if he doesn’t have license, he can still have access to the GDS system (or whatever is the name of seat booking software). He (I think) has collaboration with a travel agency with a name and address via whom he is able to get GDS access. All this is based on what I discussed with some people offline.
I am wondering whether this travel agency (which allows him to get gds access for booking) is equally liable for any damages. Any thoughts about this are welcome.
Thanks for suggestions, I very much doubt he is going to run away (based on what I discussed with many people who came in contact with him). I will pursue in above manner when my travel is done.
Do this “postal evidentiary mail form” thing. It’s one page paperwork available at and filed at post office. I think it costs NT$50.
It is frequently enough to get problem resolved. Nothing has to occur after. It’s basically just an official notice.
Yes, and WHATFT (we have a thread for that). 
In your personal code of conduct, maybe. In the Civil Code, no, unless they have a contract.
I changed the thread title, but we still want serious replies only, and no insinuations of violence, incitement of illegal behavior, or comparisons with Sanchong, please and thank you everyone. 
So, is this like a really expensive ticket? Seems to me you are spending a lot of time on this, perhaps you should just get another ticket and move on.
Next time don’t use some dodgy guy in Hsinchu. I recommend just booking it online
OP said half his monthly salary?
And if even if it were just 5000, why to let someone to get away with a scam? That’s why we are 
up as a society. [ed.]
I never asked him to persue it as civil code. I said ask him, if he’s a decent person he would do the responsible thing for introducing the op to a scammer. The right thing is to try to make it right to someone you screwed by giving your word for.