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Gangsters damaged cars after renting them out to clients

Taichung gangsters extorted over NT$1 million by damaging cars leased to customers of their car rental business and then demanding inflated repair costs from the customers, the Criminal Investigation Bureau said yesterday. They also put fake parking tickets on the cars to claim back the "payments" from the customers. Customers who refused to pay were kidnapped and beaten, the bureau said.

Liu Chi-tung (劉啟通) and nine other suspects are alleged to have threatened, kidnapped and beaten customers of the rental car business which they ran in Taichung County and Taichung City.

Police officers from the bureau and the Taichung City Police arrested the ten suspects around midnight yesterday. Another two suspects remain at large.

Police said the gangsters had installed global positioning devices in the rental cars. They would keep track of the client through the device and, when he or she left the vehicle unattended, damaged the vehicle or drove it away in order to claim that it had been stolen.

The gangsters would then demand an inflated amount to cover the repair or replacement costs, saying that the vehicles were insured for third party liability only.

Victims who refused to pay were kidnapped and beaten.

"They would detain a victim for a period of time ranging from a few hours to a few days," said a Taichung City police officer who wished to remain anonymous. "One of the victims, surnamed Chang, has been too scared to go home after being kidnapped by the gangsters and held for two days. We are still looking for him."

The police also discovered 28 fake tickets stamped with the seal of Taichung County Police at Liu's office. The suspects admitted to police that they had "issued" fake parking tickets to customers in order to claim the "payments" from the unsuspecting customers.
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