Taichung police on Wednesday arrested five people in connection with an alleged telecom fraud ring targeting Chinese by posing as police officials.
A 30-year-old man surnamed Lin (林) and alleged accomplices were arrested following a raid on a call center in an undisclosed location in the city, a spokesperson for the Taichung Police Department’s criminal investigation unit said.
Officers seized 18 cellphones, nine checkbooks, two laptops, drug-laced instant coffee packets, a BMW vehicle belonging to Lin and NT$1.53 million (US$47,592) in cash, police said.
Investigators also seized various objects apparently being used as lucky charms, including a blessed coin from a temple and a golden statue of a chicken, police said.
An investigation into the ring included months of surveillance, they said.
Lin is believed to have worked under an organized criminal group that provided him with telephone numbers of people in China, who the ring attempted to defraud by impersonating Chinese police, investigators said.
The suspects allegedly tricked targets into wiring money to bank accounts under the perpetrators’ control, and would transfer the calls through a fake police station as part of the ruse, police said.
The fraudsters were speaking on the phone with a target when officers raided the call center, they said.
The Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office has obtained court approval to hold the suspects incommunicado to prevent collusion, police said.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
PEAK MONTHS: Data showed that on average 25 to 27 typhoons formed in the Pacific and South China seas annually, with about four forming per month in July and October One of three tropical depressions in the Pacific strengthened into a typhoon yesterday afternoon, while two others are expected to become typhoons by today, Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecaster Lee Ming-hsiang (李名翔) said yesterday. The outer circulation of Tropical Depression No. 20, now Typhoon Mitag, has brought light rain to Hualien, Taitung and areas in the south, Lee said, adding that as of 2pm yesterday, Mitag was moving west-northwest at 16kph, but is not expected to directly affect Taiwan. It was possible that Tropical Depression No. 21 would become a typhoon as soon as last night, he said. It was moving in a
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
A Taiwanese academic yesterday said that Chinese Ambassador to Denmark Wang Xuefeng (王雪峰) disrespected Denmark and Japan when he earlier this year allegedly asked Japan’s embassy to make Taiwan’s representatives leave an event in Copenhagen. The Danish-language Berlingske on Sunday reported the incident in an article with the headline “The emperor’s birthday ended in drama in Copenhagen: More conflict may be on the way between Denmark and China.” It said that on Feb. 26, the Japanese embassy in Denmark held an event for Japanese Emperor Naruhito’s birthday, with about 200 guests in attendance, including representatives from Taiwan. After addressing the Japanese hosts, Wang
RSS