A total of 29 Taiwanese suspects involved in a cross-border telecom fraud in Japan have been repatriated to Taiwan pending an investigation, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said on Wednesday.
So far, a dozen of the suspects have been charged with involvement in organized crime and fraud, while the others are still being questioned by the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office, the bureau said.
In August last year, Japanese authorities received information that a group of Taiwanese nationals — operating in Japan — was scamming people in China, CIB official Chang Wei-lun (張瑋倫) said.
Photo: CNA
Following months of investigation, the Japanese authorities managed to track down the suspects at their base in Yamanashi Prefecture’s Kofu City on March 27, and 19 people were later arrested, Chang said.
With information obtained from the suspects, Japanese police were able to detain another 10 Taiwanese involved in the case as they tried to flee the country from Narita Airport on March 28 and 29.
The suspects posed as Chinese police, tricking victims into wiring money to designated bank accounts by telling them their health insurance cards had been hacked and that a payment was needed to resolve the situation, the bureau said.
The group allegedly defrauded about US$98,274 from five victims, it said.
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