Indonesian police, in cooperation with Taiwanese police, have arrested 46 Chinese and two Vietnamese for suspected cross-border telecom fraud targeting Taiwanese and Chinese.
Jakarta Police spokesman Yusri Yunus announced the results of the joint operation at a news conference in the Indonesian capital on Saturday, during which the suspects were present with their hands bound.
Taiwanese police liaison officer in Indonesia Kang Sun-min (康淳閔) also attended the news conference, where Yusri thanked Taiwan’s police force for its assistance in solving the case.
Photo: CNA
The fraud ring set up four call centers in Jakarta, and allegedly tricked victims through schemes involving bitcoin investment and online dating, the Criminal Investigation Bureau said in Taipei on Saturday.
The suspects established contact with people in Taiwan and China through dating apps and chatted with them through instant messaging apps such as WeChat and Line, Yusri said, citing a police investigation.
They allegedly defrauded four Taiwanese out of more than NT$6 million (US$215,967) through online investment or gaming scams, Yusri said.
The suspects also allegedly blackmailed some of their victims with sexually explicit footage, he said.
Indonesian police said in a statement that the suspects targeted Taiwanese from August to last month, and Chinese last month and this month.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
Taiwan next year plans to launch its first nationwide census on elderly people living independently to identify the estimated 700,000 seniors to strengthen community-based healthcare and long-term care services, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) said yesterday. Minister of Health and Welfare Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said on the sidelines of a healthcare seminar that the nation’s rapidly aging population and declining birthrate have made the issue of elderly people living alone increasingly pressing. The survey, to be jointly conducted by the MOHW and the Ministry of the Interior, aims to establish baseline data and better allocate care resources, he
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