Aviation police stop woman from falling into suspected honey trap

Taipei, March 12 (CNA) Taiwan's Aviation Police Bureau (APB) on Wednesday revealed that the agency recently persuaded a Taiwanese woman not to go to Cambodia after concluding she was the victim of a human-trafficking honey trap.

Speaking to local press on Wednesday, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the APB's Criminal Investigation Division, said the bureau was notified of the case by Taoyuan International Airport Services on March 3.

Chang said ground crew identified a Taiwanese woman, surnamed Shih (施), as a potential scam victim while she was about to take an international flight from Taoyuan Airport Terminal 1.

Ground crew noticed that although Shih was departing on her first trip abroad ever, she only had a one-way ticket from Taipei to Phnom Penh via a layover in Kuala Lumpur.

Airport personnel suspected Shih may had fallen victim to a job scam and was about fall into the hands of human-traffickers in Cambodia, Chang said.

As a result, APB officers approached Shih at the Terminal 1 security check point to try and ascertain the situation.

Chang said APB officers eventually ascertained that the Taiwanese woman befriended a man known as A-hsing online and was flying to Cambodia to see him.

A-hsing apparently lured Shih into a honey trap through sweet talk and convinced her to travel to Cambodia by telling her she could use the trip to explore prospective job opportunities, adding that all expenses for her trip and subsequent tours would be fully covered.

Chang said APB officers then used her phone to call A-hsing, who claimed to be in Phnom Penh and to be Shih's boyfriend.

However, when asked to provide identification, details of his relationship with Shih, and an explanation of why he wanted her to go to Cambodia, A-hsing was unable to do so.

After concluding that the trip was part of a honey trap scheme, APB officers provided Shih with information on similar scams and human trafficking cases in an effort to persuade her to change her mind.

Chang said Shih eventually decided not to fly to Cambodia and the APB later contacted the Taiwanese woman's family before taking her home.

The APB will continue to follow up with the case, Chang said.

The bureau said that there has been a steady stream of cases where scammers have lured victims to Cambodia using the temptation of high-paying jobs, warning members of the general public to be careful when coming across such opportunities.