NEW TAIPEI (TVBS News)--- A 62-year-old woman named Lin from Sanchong District, New Taipei City, was recently deceived by a fraud group impersonating Hong Kong star Andy Lau (劉德華) using AI face-changing technology. This scam resulted in a loss of up to NT$2.64 million.
The Scam
The scam unfolded when an unknown individual added Lin as a friend in an Andy Lau Facebook fan group and initiated a video call. Lin saw Lau's face in the video and fell into the fraud group's trap, thinking she had met her idol.
Sanchong District police said the man who claimed to be Lau turned out to be using AI face-changing technology. He said he was coming to Taiwan for a vacation and was raising NT$2.6 million.
Despite sensing something was off, Lin, starstruck by seeing her idol, naively believed him and transferred NT$2.64 million in total.
The Arrest
Lin's family noticed something was amiss and suspected a scam, prompting them to report it to the police. On June 25, police made an arrest during a face-to-face cash handover.
Unexpectedly, a 58-year-old woman surnamed Chuang was also being deceived by the scam group. "I was sent by Lau's PR company," Chuang said, baffled.
Chuang said she had been privately recruited by a man claiming to be Lau, thinking she could interact with her idol, only to be exploited by the scam group. After questioning, the police still transferred Chuang to the prosecutor's office for fraud and money laundering.