Authorities on Friday last week arrested a Taiwanese woman on suspicion of aiding a Hong Kong and China-based group that sold a smartphone surveillance app to hundreds of users in Taiwan.
The woman, surnamed Kung (龔), was arrested by the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau’s Tainan branch.
Kung had been using the app named Ezxspy to spy on her partner, but after a while she could not afford the monthly subscription fee, which was several thousand New Taiwan dollars, the bureau said.
She then joined the group and was given free access to the app and a percentage of the money the group made in exchange for allowing the use of her bank accounts for payments made by Taiwanese users of the app, the bureau said.
The bureau estimated that the app has about 300 users in Taiwan, based on the NT$2 million (US$66,693) that has passed through Kung’s bank accounts over the past two years.
Kung’s services were invaluable to the group, as Taiwanese had become aware of a scam that involves paying money for mobile game credits, which the group initially used to receive payments for the app, the bureau said.
“We launched the investigation into the case thinking it was a fraud ring,” the bureau said.
The group in 2014 started marketing the app as a tool to obtain proof on cheating spouses, or to be used in corporate espionage, the bureau said, adding that the group’s Web site has since been taken offline.
The group initially provided a trial version of the app to be downloaded to the target’s mobile phone, which would report two calls to the user, and the user could then contact the group via the Line messaging app to obtain the full version, the bureau said.
Once the full version was installed on the target’s device, the user could monitor phone calls, messages and images saved on the device, as well as track the handset via GPS, it added.
The app was embedded in Android registry files, the bureau said, adding that its icon was similar to that of the Google Play app.
“We are trying to trace the group’s leaders in Hong Kong and China,” the bureau said.
Kung’s case has been forwarded to the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office.
Prosecutors have indicted her for breaching Articles 36 and 37 of the Criminal Code and the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法).
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