Five people were detained yesterday, a day after agents of the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau, led by prosecutors from the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, busted an alleged local fraud ring said to be using sham business opportunities in Malaysia as a bait to defraud thousands of would-be investors.
Following a tip-off late last month, investigators raided five locations in New Taipei City’s Shulin (樹林), Sansia (三峽) and Wugu (五股) districts, seizing NT$380 million (US$12.68 million) in cash, more than 100 luxury bags and five luxury cars.
The investigators said the fraud ring, operated like a family business and led by the main suspect, Chen Jing-teng (陳靖騰), had told potential investors that they would be investing in an upscale gaming resort in Malaysia.
To win the trust of the investors, Chen’s fraud ring organized investor sessions at luxury hotels and treated investors to free overseas trips, while Chen showed off his wealth by living an opulent lifestyle, the investigators said.
Attracted by the promise of returns as high as 76 percent to 90 percent per year, more than 5,000 people, including professors, doctors, retired civil servants and bankers, were hooked by the scheme, the investigators added.
The ring managed to rake in as much as NT$2 billion (US$66.6 million) over the past two years, they told reporters.
The prosecutors’ request for Chen, his girlfriend, his two sons and another man working as a bookkeeper for the ring to be detained was granted by a judge.
Besides fraud charges under the Criminal Code, the five face charges under the Banking Act for allegedly accepting deposits illegally.
They are also accused of violating the Fair Trade Act for conducting illegal multi-level marketing.
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