A campaign against fraud has resulted in police breaking up 633 alleged scammer organizations and identifying 3,992 suspects, the National Police Agency (NPA) told a news conference at the NPA headquarters in Taipei yesterday.
The agency carried out a series of operations targeting lending and money laundering activities using cryptocurrency, Anti-Fraud Command Center head Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said.
The operations took place from Jan. 8 to 17, officials said.
Photo: CNA
Financial Security Commission officials and Taiwan Virtual Asset Service Provider Association representatives also attended the news conference to announce the launch of a public-private task force to fight crypto-based fraud.
The enforcement operations led to the confiscation of alleged criminal proceeds valued at more than NT$971.43 million (US$29.6 million), disbanded 271 money lending organizations, with 340 suspects identified from the organizations, Ma said.
Police uncovered 125 instances of alleged money laundering involving cryptocurrency, with 143 suspects to be prosecuted, he said.
A well-educated public that is aware of the risks posed by scammers, and cooperation between public and private-sector actors are crucial to counter fraud, a criminal activity characterized by constant innovation, Ma said.
Separately, Criminal Investigation Bureau 4th Investigation Corps Commander Tseng Shun-kuang (曾順光) said that his unit last year cracked down on scammers who allegedly defrauded 20 people of a combined NT$100 million.
The group, whose members included financing companies, scriveners and an unregistered lender, conspired to scam people with fake investment schemes before taking out mortgages on the properties of those it targeted, Tseng said.
Police questioned 17 suspects and found sufficient material to recommend that the Hsinchu District Prosecutors’ Office charge them with aggravated fraud, money laundering and racketeering, he said.
CIB International Criminal Affairs Division Chief Lee Kun-ta (李昆達) said that a review of records and data helped police identify a suspected money laundering operation in Taoyuan that worked for Chinese scammers.
The main suspect in the case allegedly created an online shopping platform to trick Chinese into giving away their personal financial information, he said.
The accounts of targets were drained and used to buy tether, a cryptocurrency, which was used to conduct nominal transactions to hide illegal profits from gambling and other schemes, Lee said.
This money-laundering group processed about 100 million yuan (US$13,77 million), he said.
In January, a task force raided facilities and residences connected to the case, and recommended that the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office indict six people on charges linked to the scheme, he said.
The investigation is ongoing, as police believe the suspects worked for a higher authority in one or more organized crime groups, Lee said.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
RSS