Taichung police warn of LINE voting scams hijacking accounts

The Taichung City Police Department has alerted the public to a wave of fraud that uses "help me vote" messages sent via LINE. Scammers pose as friends and attach links to fake contests such as painting, pet, or photo competitions. When victims click the link they are prompted to log into LINE and provide their phone number, password and SMS verification code, which allows the fraudsters to take control of the account.

Compromised accounts are immediately logged out and then used to send requests for money, loan advances or further voting links to the victim’s contacts, exploiting the trust of friends and family. The scheme recently affected Taichung councilor Chen Ting‑hsiu, whose LINE account was hijacked and used for the same purpose. Police advise users not to click unknown links, never share LINE passwords or verification codes, and to verify any voting request through other channels. Victims should use LINE’s “re‑login” feature (available in version 15.4.0 or later) to recover their accounts and report incidents to the 165 anti‑fraud hotline.