Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) officials on Wednesday said that they have broken up an international telecom fraud ring and arrested 14 people.
The ring was allegedly led by a man surnamed Cheng (鄭), who last year set up the group’s operating base in Cambodia.
He earlier this year moved the base to Montenegro, and then to Italy and Turkey, before returning to Taiwan due to the COVID-19 pandemic, said Wang Chia-hua (王嘉華), captain of the CIB’s Crime-Fighting Corps in central Taiwan.
Due to language and cultural barriers, the fraudsters did not target citizens of other countries, but focused on defrauding people in China, Hong Kong and Macau, Wang said.
Telecom records and bank statements showed that the suspects allegedly defrauded about 80 people, mostly Chinese nationals, over the telephone or social media, Wang said, adding that they made illegal gains of about NT$12 million (US$421,215).
The ring members moved to a new country every few months to evade police surveillance, while Cheng allegedly coordinated their operations from Kaohsiung, Wang said.
After receiving tip-offs on Cheng’s activities, the CIB in August carried out raids in Kaohsiung and other locations, arresting Cheng and eight other ring members who had returned to Taiwan, Wang said.
The fraudsters fooled their victims by telling them that they had been caught up in a Chinese judicial investigation for hoarding masks or other medical supplies related to COVID-19 prevention, or for their involvement in money laundering, and asked them to wire money to designated bank accounts, Wang said.
After the arrests in August, five other suspects were caught when they returned to Taiwan in the past few months, Wang said, adding that CIB officers waited for them to complete their 14-day mandatory quarantine at designated hotels before taking them in for questioning.
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