Prosecutors have charged retired Hsinchu County school principal Peng Chun-lan (彭春蘭) with operating a fraud ring targeting religious worshipers that netted an alleged NT$110 million (US$3.62 million) and detained her, pending an ongoing investigation.
Peng allegedly headed the operation with two other women, surnamed Lin (林) and Wu (吳), Hsinchu prosecutors said.
Their tactics preyed on people’s religious beliefs, prosecutors said when confirming Peng’s detention on Thursday.
Case documents showed that Peng was previously the school principal for Liujia Junior High School in Jhubei City (竹北) and later principal of Jianshi Junior High School in Jianshhi Township (尖石) in Hsinchu County, before her retirement in 2015.
Investigators said Peng and her two accomplices would allegedly approach people with family members dealing with illness, personal tragedy or financial difficulties.
They would then claim that they had access to “spiritual masters” with special divine powers to help people to reverse their fortunes and bring about good health and prosperity.
Peng would allegedly tell the victims — most of them devoutly religious people — to buy jade amulets and other expensive jewelry, which Peng claimed had proven special powers after being blessed by the “spiritual masters.”
Prosecutors said the case so far has uncovered a total of NT$110 million in illegal profiteering, along with an unspecified amount of jade amulets and other jewelry in searches at the three suspects’ residences. There are at least nine alleged victims.
Prosecutors said some of the victims were also asked to invest money in Peng’s registered jade and jewelry company, with Peng allegedly naming them as shareholders. One victim invested more than NT$30 million, while another invested about NT$3 million. They said their money had not been paid back.
Peng and her two accomplices are facing fraud and money laundering charges, along with contravening provisions of the Banking Act (銀行法), prosecutors said.
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