I’ve only ever been knowingly scammed once, and it was by a ‘friend’. That hurt. Still does.
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Sometimes “friends” who borrow money are actually scammers if they really do not plan to pay you back. I have lent money to 5 friends in my life. One paid me back. One offered and I said no need due to situation. Three did not pay back or even act like would try to pay back. I consider that to be a scam…but that is just me.
For guy who paid me back I was very impressed. He was my housemate. He had lost his job and his wife ran off to another country with their child…and the wife went on TV to claim was husband who ran off. I mean he was having a tough time so I paid his rent for three months. He went back to U.S. to try to get situation settled down and fight for his kid. Three years later he called me and said he had moved back and when he found a job he would start paying me back. Three months later I received the first cheque and he paid off after a year. We were not actually close friends but more like flatmates. But he impressed me with his determination to pay. He certainly went way beyond the others who did not pay.
What burns me up about those who did not pay is they basically were living a more fun and comfortable life that I was when they borrowed money from me. For one guy who borrowed I found out he had borrowed money from almost everyone he knew…just to keep up his lifestyle. That was in Singapore. He had a car (very expensive to buy car there) and would go golfing in Malaysia every week.
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Got a message last week saying my package has arrived at the 7-11 (usual one for my packages). Only thing is I haven’t ordered anything. Apparently its a scam where someone sends you an empty package and you pay to collect it thinking someone in your household ordered it.
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Norton is ass. So is McAfee, just bloatware. Windows has a built-in antivirus that’s good enough. unless you’re like me and download music daily you don’t really need anything else. I like a bit of thrill so I don’t use a paid antivirus.
Everyone should install uBlock Origin and use proton mail if you’re gonna pay for a service. It has a password manager, and vpn. it’s always on sale on black Friday.
Block automatic downloads and double check before downloading anything.
Change your reused passwords and use 2FA. Google Authenticator.
Always check URLs. (This is probably how your wife got phished. Either that or an old reused password)
check https://haveibeenpwned.com/ they tell you if your accounts info has been stolen. run by Troy Hunt if you’re curious.
I feel like everything is a scam, I’m sure that most of gen z feels that way lmao. i don’t respond to most messages i get on most texting platforms.
not my story but in Korea, i knew a guy who purposely fell for those cult recruiting rings. they invited him for pizza and preached to him. then they said that he should pay 70k won to protect his family and another 50kwon for something else i forget. He knew it was a grift and they got really mad and yelled at him to leave when he said he forgot his wallet. funny stuff
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I have received many Taiwan Post mails asking to pay for package.
I also receive mails from ETC saying need to pay highway fees. I find that interesting since only my wife is registered with ETC….so I guess the scammers just mail to anyone with IP in Taiwan.
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One more data point to add to this thread: I received two scam messages from “Temu Delivery Services” stating “Delivery Fee Payment Required.”
I have never ordered anything in my life from “Temu”—is that some operation in China?
Scam emails received: 24 January 2026
Guy
It’s a scam. Fell for it once. Google the telephone number and LINE ID.
Messages in English? I find my messages from ETC in English to be a sure sign is fake. Did not have any Chinese.
Yes, the subject for the email was composed in English.
I did not open the email or examine it further other than to mark it as “junk.”
Guy
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My friend’s son got duped into being the fall guy picking up scammed funds at a 7/11. The son had some “friends” who scammed people into bringing money to them at a 7/11. The son was with them and they asked him to go pick up some money for their company. Police arrested him and he was thrown in jail for two years…getting out after one year for good behavior.
I believe my friend’s son was not aware of what he was being asked to do. He has been spoiled by his grandmother his whole life and ain’t exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. No much life experience until getting nabbed by the cops. Even while in jail the grandmother would make him tons of meals and delivery to him every week. She never realized that she was also part of the problem of just pampering him so much that he never made any important decisions before moving off to Taipei to go to school. Well, seems the stint in jail was good for him…looks less clueless now.
That sounds like a hard lesson to have learned.
Guy
Sometimes my wife and I get disgusted at the actions of some young people we know but then after thinking about it seems not all of their fault. They grew up spoiled and without any responsibility…due to parents and other family members treating them like kings and queens. Even if they wanted to make some decisions they were prevented from doing so to “protect” them. So there they are…20 years old and clueless about many basic things in life. We end up feeling sorry for them. But when they reach 30 and are still the same way…well, by then I start to feel they should have noticed why they have so many problems.
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I agree this is definitely a thing, especially if The Dream is for their kid to get into a top national university or something similar. Way too much emphasis on this kind of goal at the expense of many other things that matter.
If the kids are hanging out in Hualien getting duped, I have more trouble understanding the dyanamics.
Guy