So a while ago my wife asked me to sell off some old things online.
In recent months there has been a new type of scam where the scammer will agree to pay the requested price and then say they will wire the money to the shipping company (Kerry/ Hsinchu Logistics) and the driver will give it to you when they pick up the article for shipping.
They will then send you and official looking link to what seems like a site to enter in you information (the scam is not money related but mostly trying to steal your information)
Well I received such a message and of course quickly called them out on it.
well they weren’t too happy about it and about an hour later I received some screenshots of what appeared to be conversations between myself and what seems a to be a person who offers rather questionable female services (using pics posted on my own Facebook account)
And they said if I did not wire 10,000 to some account they would post the screenshots to several popular gossip Facebook groups (BaoLiao community, Taiwan blacklist{English translation}) and they of course pulled all they regular “what will your wife and company think of you blah blah”
Of course my wife was next to me at the time so I showed her and then messaged my supervisor, and then went to the police station to make a report.
Although there was little the police could do other than take a statement, it just goes to show how the lenient punishment levied for fraud (only 6 months to 2 years max)does little in deterring would be scammers.
This scam seems to focus on trying to disrupt the marks livelihood in hopes of getting a payout.
Even if one has a clear conscience there’s no telling what others may think as most Asians have a tendency to take things at face value (guilty until proven innocent) and by the time you can do so the stigma of possibly being associated with such activities can last a long time