Following a massive nationwide sweep launched on Thursday, prosecutors and police said they have effectively dissolved five scamming groups that allegedly used homeless people to commit fraud.
More than 50 suspects were arrested and millions of NT dollars were confiscated, the police added.
The police said that the five groups, headed by 45-year-old Chen Chih-hui (陳志輝), 40-year-old Chien Cheng-tse (簡成澤), 36-year-old Shih Han-wu (石漢武), 50-year-old Juan Tung-chieh (阮通杰) and 35-year-old Chang Kuang-chien (常光健), were suspected of setting up fake companies and forging proof of salaries, insurance contracts and bankbooks.
Investigations by the prosecutors and police showed that three of the groups had some communication with one another over scamming methods, but otherwise acted independently when picking their targets.
The three groups allegedly started picking up homeless people who had their social ID cards with them, or others who met their criteria, on the streets, in parks or in front of train stations, police said, adding that after they locked onto their targets they allegedly periodically gave them small amounts of cash ranging between NT$2,000 and NT$3,000.
Afterwards, they would rent a suite where they would watch over their victims and control them, then scam them for all they were worth, police said.
The groups’ methods of scamming included using the homeless as figureheads to start fake companies and using their names to apply for credit cards, loans and cellphone SIM cards, or to buy a shipment of cargo on a fraudulent check and then sell the merchandise before the check bounced, the police said.
They would also use the homeless people’s names to apply for loans to buy second-hand cars, then liquidate the cars for cash, police said.
In order to make the homeless people’s credit look good, the group allegedly dressed them up to look like wealthy corporate tycoons when the banks came credit-checking, and would repeat the process until 30 or 40 homeless people suffered from bad credit, the police said.
The group would then dump them back where they had found them and move on to find new targets, the police said.
Juan and Chang allegedly used homeless people for scamming by first paying expensive insurance fees in their names, then, after a former insurance company salesperson forged medical documents, they would break their hands and legs and fake accidents to get the insurance payments, ranging from NT$100,000 to NT$1 million, the police said.
According to the investigators, the suspects were unscrupulous about the methods they used to get the insurance payments, often arranging for the homeless people to wait in front of convenience stores and fake accidents with other men who looked more honest, or with old women who just started up their vehicles.
All of the suspects are facing charges of scamming and forgery of documents, the police said.
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
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