Fourteen people have been arrested over a cryptocurrency investment scam that allegedly defrauded more than 100 people out of about NT$150 million (US$5.41 million) over the past year, police said on Friday.
The 14 suspects face charges of fraud, money laundering and breaches of the Organized Crime Prevention Act (組織犯罪防制條例), the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said.
A businessman surnamed Chen (陳) allegedly led the scheme, said CIB investigator Kuo Yu-chih (郭有志), who is in charge of the case.
Chen promoted cryptocurrency investment on social media and led the Taipei-based Azure Crypto Co, which offered cryptocurrency transactions, as well as other investment services, Kuo said.
Chen’s investment schemes focused on the cryptocurrencies ethereum, tronix and tether, Kuo said, adding that Chen promised high investment earnings through the blockchain technology.
“Chen and his staff set up Web sites, and allegedly used photographs of pretty women to attract mainly male victims, many of whom were in retirement with substantial savings,” he said.
The victims were drawn to the Web sites by the attractive images and persuaded to invest through interactions they believed to be with the women, while Chen and his staff presented themselves as financial advisers specializing in cryptomining, Kuo said.
Investigators confiscated ledgers listing more than 100 people caught up in the scam, the bureau said.
The person who lost the most had invested NT$29 million over two months, it said.
Investigators quoted the man as saying that after an initial investment, Azure Crypto promised him earnings that prompted him to invest more.
After complaints, the bureau monitored the firm’s activities and its online transactions over several months before conducting raids late last month at the company’s office, and the residences of Chen and his staff.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
RSS