inese tourist when collecting taxi fare by telling him New Taiwan dollars and Chinese Yuan (renminbi) were equal in value, the United Evening News reported yesterday. The swindle was exposed after a tourist guide surnamed Hsu reported to transportation police squad under the Department of Transportation in the Taipei City Government.
Hsu told the police that he led a group of overseas Chinese from Southeast Asia to tour Taiwan during the Chinese New Year holidays, and one group member was cheated of around NT$700 by paying 180 renminbi instead of NT$180 to a taxi driver.
The tourist, Hsu continued, got in the taxicab near the Pacific Sogo Department Stores on Chunghsiao East Road and got out at the intersection of Hsinsheng North Road and Nungan Street, with the taxi fare amounting to NT$180.
Having spent all his New Taiwan dollars after shopping at Sogo, the tourist asked the taxi driver whether he could pay in renminbi. Unexpectedly, the driver said that he could also accept payment in renminbi and further claimed that the value of the New Taiwan dollar was equal to the renminbi at the time. Accordingly, the tourist paid 200 renminbi and got a change of NT$20 from the taxi driver.
After checking the exchange rate between the two currencies later, the tourist found that one renminbi could be converted into NT$4.5 and accordingly he paid a total of NT$900. After deducting the taxi fare of NT$180 and a change of NT$20, the old visitor overpaid NT$700.
The transportation police transferred the case to the Motor Vehicles Office under the Taipei City Government, which in turn will hand the case over to the Criminal Investigation Bureau for further investigation. The bureau will move to interrogate the taxi driver on charges of fraud.
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