In the funeral urn tower fraud case involving Hongrenhui of Taiwan's Bamboo Union gang, police unexpectedly discovered that a certain university associate professor, simply by listening to the scammers’ exaggerated rhetoric, was convinced when they claimed, 'Hong Kong star Nicholas Tse managed to make a comeback all because he bought a life base burial lot.' This professor actually went on to buy 14 burial lot certificates over four years, eventually losing 23 million New Taiwan Dollars (about 2.93 million Ringgit), wiping out his entire life savings.
According to a report by Liberty Times on the 4th, 45-year-old Hongrenhui member surnamed Cheng, together with a 49-year-old financier surnamed Wu, used their gang members to set up a funeral fraud syndicate. By offering to buy burial urn tower slots and 'life base' slots at high prices, they attracted members of the public and carried out the scam. After a long investigation, the Criminal Investigation Corps Squad Four in Taipei arrested Cheng and eight others. Preliminary checks show there were a total of seven victims, with the total fraud amount exceeding 42.9 million New Taiwan Dollars. Among these, one national university associate professor alone lost as much as 23 million New Taiwan Dollars.
Police investigations revealed that this 66-year-old associate professor received a call from Cheng’s fraud syndicate in 2021. During their chats, the scammer seemingly found out that the professor was experiencing setbacks at work, and then eloquently claimed that the well-known Hong Kong celebrity Nicholas Tse had also faced career frustrations, but after buying a 'life base' burial slot, his career in showbiz flourished again.
Under the constant brainwashing by the scammer, the professor actually believed it. Over less than four years, he bought 14 'life base' burial lots as an investment. Later, he received another call from a salesperson, saying that a buyer was interested in purchasing 30 'life base' slots at a high price, and once again persuaded the professor to buy more, including compartments and top panels, to obtain even greater profits.
Trusting their claims, and hoping to sell all at once for future profit, the professor indeed bought enough to make up a total of 30 'life base' burial lots. However, when he tried to close the deal at the beginning of this year, the other party told him the deal couldn’t go through and refused to meet to resolve it. The professor finally realized the truth and decided to call the police for help.