The mention of China's President Hu Jintao was enough to stop a Chinese would-be phone scammer from swindling money out of a Taiwanese university student, local media reported Friday.
The unidentified Chinese man told the Taiwanese student in a phone call from China that he had failed to make proper payment for merchandise he bought online and must wire money to a bank account to pay for the difference, the cable news channel TVBS said.
Suspecting it could be a scam, the student, who lived near a police station in the central city of Taichung, sought help from officers and handed his cell phone to station director, Chen Tso-hao, TVBS said, DPA reported.
After determining that it was a scam, Chen told the man on the phone what he did would only make China's President Hu Jintao ashamed.
"Upon hearing that, the man admitted his attempt, saying because he lived in poverty he had no choice but to do it, and then he hung up the phone," Chen was quoted as saying by TVBS.
Chen said there has been a growing number of phone scams from China recently and urged the public to be cautious.