Authorities yesterday apprehended alleged members of a Taichung criminal ring, which operated a sophisticated dating scam that employed young men to deceive women looking for love, who were defrauded of their money through phony investment deals.
A police spokesman said the alleged masterminds of the operation, 30-year-old Lee Tsung-han (李宗翰) and 28-year-old Hsieh Chia-che (謝家哲), and four other members, who are all in their 20s, were taken into custody.
After following up on leads that led to a month-long surveillance operation, vice units obtained warrants to apprehend the suspects at their office in Taichung’s Situn District (四屯).
“This group of young men used their good looks and charm to target women in their 30s who are mostly residents of China, Hong Kong and Macau,” a police spokesperson said. “It was quite a sophisticated international scam, employing online chat apps to prey on the women.”
Police officers also confiscated ketamine, parts of a disassembled handgun, notebook computers and seven Chinese-made mobile phones.
They also found a book on female psychology and several training manuals containing guides and step-by-step instructions on conversing with women to stimulate and maintain an online love relationship.
Among the tips covered by the materials were: “Use determined and persuasive words to say you admire her and have fallen in love with her,” and “To make money, you must learn how to manipulate women.”
According to police, the ring targeted lonely women on messaging apps like Line and on online dating Web sites, charming their victims in online conversations.
“We found a significant amount of mushy and affectionate exchanges in their online chats, even going as far as calling the victims ‘my dear wife’ as they endeavored to convince women they were having a genuine romantic relationship with a handsome young man,” the police spokesman said.
The members of the ring pretended to be employed as managers in investment companies and, when they felt the time was ripe after gaining a victim’s trust, they asked the women to wire money into Hong Kong-based accounts, ostensibly to help them cover short-term payments on futures and other investments, police said.
Preliminary estimates showed that more than 100 women were cheated out of their love and money by the scam, police said, adding that when apprehended, the ring members’ computer records indicated that each of them had more than 10 women currently targeted.
During the raid on the ring’s office, a Chinese woman living in the US called to say she was going to transfer US$400,000. Fortunately, police officers on the scene managed to talk her out of doing so and explained the situation.
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