TAIPEI, TAIWAN - A total of three job seekers in Taipei City have been scammed between NT$10,000 (S$438) and NT$ 30,000 (S$1314) recently from a false job advertisement of a food factory in China, said the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) yesterday.

The con artists asked the victims to pay for their flight tickets to China first, after giving them the job offers and assuring that the company would return the money later.

A man, surnamed Chang, contacted a fake food-processing factory in Fuzhou, southeastern China, after seeing an advertisement in the newspaper for a management position in the company with a monthly salary of NT$58,000 (S$2540).

He was informed of the job offer five days later through a phone call from a man who claimed to be the factory's director whose surname was Liu, along with a dinner invitation for the next day.

Liu called Chang the following day again, saying the company had booked a flight ticket for him, which would be delivered to him later that day.

Chang was thus asked to pay NT$30,000 when receiving the electronic ticket, but Liu promised to give him the money when they met for dinner.

Chang, however, did not recognize the counterfeit ticket until he consulted with the airline and travel agency.

According to the CIB, two other men have also fallen victim to the same fraud.