Three Taiwan Taxi Co (台灣大車隊) drivers who received suspiciously high payments of NT$240,000 were turned over to the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on suspicion of credit card fraud last week after a company reported the credit discrepancy to the New Taipei Police Department.
The three drivers — Liu Wen-sheng (劉文聖), 37; a driver surnamed Lin (林), 35; and a driver surnamed Fan (范), 54 — had no criminal record, but were persuaded by criminals to exploit a loophole in the company’s mobile app, the police said on Wednesday last week.
Abusing the app’s prompt payment authorizations, the three drivers obtained their clients’ credit card information and faked payments in the system, the police said, adding that the drivers later obtained the funds from the company, which they split evenly among themselves.
The company noticed the discrepancy when the three received more than NT$80,000 each in less than three weeks and notified the police, the police said.
All three drivers said that they had listened to “certain people” in hopes of making more money and covering family expenses.
Upon hearing that their actions might have violated Article 339 of the Criminal Code, which is punishable by seven years in prison along with a NT$700,000 fine, they gave up most of their gains in the hope of lowering their sentences.
The police are still investigating the drivers’ claims that the three were persuaded by “certain people” to exploit the program, the police said, adding that they are also trying to find the owners of the credit cards that the drivers used.
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