Three Chinese women have been detained on allegations of arranging fake marriages between Chinese women and Taiwanese men, including those who are homeless, the National Immigration Agency reported on Monday.
According to the agency, the alleged mastermind, a 40-year-old Chinese woman identified only by her family name Chang (張), was arrested earlier the same day along with two others by agency officers, who had been investigating tips provided by informants since March.
Chang and her alleged accomplices were tracked down after one of their customers failed to pass the interview with agency officers earlier on Monday. Immigration officials typically ask women applying to enter Taiwan as spouses personal questions about their marriage or husband.
Chang reportedly admitted having brought in Chinese women wishing to land a job in Taiwan from her Fujian Province since 2009. She was charged with document forgery under the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例).
Chang and her accomplices, who have all obtained a Taiwanese ID card, were also found to have entered Taiwan through fake marriages after their arrest.
To help the women pass strict interviews that the agency introduced in late 2003 to fend off marriages of convenience, Chang allegedly coached the women in coffee shops near the agency on how to reply to questions posed by officers.
Chang allegedly hired elderly Taiwanese men or homeless people to pose as her clients’ proxy husbands, paying for the men to travel to China to register the marriages.
The three women are being kept in a detention center in Taipei and may face a jail term of less than one year and extradition back to China if found guilty.
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