Taiwan woman almost scammed of S$79,000 for hotpot venture after reconnecting with long-lost 'classmate'

A woman in Taichung, Taiwan, was almost scammed of NT2 million (S$79,000) after reconnecting with a "classmate" from almost 20 years ago.

The woman, Lin, chanced upon her friend's profile on social media, and had started chatting.

According to Sinchew, what began with innocuous messages pivoted to the "friend" presenting Lin with a rare investment opportunity in a hotpot restaurant.

The "friend" claimed to have special channels to reduce procurement costs and invited her to invest in a hotpot restaurant while guaranteeing a profit with no losses.

Lin didn't think too much about it and agreed to put in the aforementioned sum of money.

Luckily, the bank staff noticed the large sum Lin was trying to transfer and found out that she had no clarity on the investment location or details.

The bank asked her to call the classmate to learn more about the investment, but no one answered.

Follow-up messages were also left unread and unanswered.

The police later determined this was actually done by a scam ring.