Two Taiwanese wanted for their suspected involvement in cross-border telecom fraud were on Friday repatriated to Taiwan from the Philippines and Vietnam.
The suspects, surnamed Huang (黃) and Hsiao (蕭), are suspected of having defrauded Chinese through separate operations, Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) International Criminal Affairs official Su Li-tsung (蘇立琮) said on Saturday.
In 2017, Huang, 34, allegedly led a 110-member fraud ring running a telecom scam in Latvia, where they were arrested and deported back to Taiwan that same year, the CIB said.
In June last year, Huang fled to the Philippines and was arrested in early May by immigration officers after attempting to use a fake passport to leave the country, the agency said, adding that it sent officers to repatriate Huang.
Huang, who was sent to the Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office for further investigation, allegedly obtained about NT$150 million (US$4.97 million) in illegal profits through the telecom fraud operation, the CIB said.
Hsiao, 36, was arrested in Ho Chi Minh City in July through cooperation between law enforcement officers in Taiwan and Vietnam, the bureau said.
Hsiao had allegedly operated a telecom scam in Vietnam since June 2014, it added.
Hsiao was sent to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for further investigation, it said.
So far this year, 36 Taiwanese suspects have been deported back to Taiwan through cross-border cooperation that ended their fraudulent overseas activities, it said.
Last month, 29 Taiwanese suspects involved in cross-border telecom fraud in Japan were repatriated to Taiwan pending an investigation after Japanese authorities in March tracked the suspects to a site in Yamanashi Prefecture’s Kofu City.
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