Three people deceived Taiwanese into traveling to Southeast Asian nations where they became “cyberslaves,” the Taiwan Changhua District Court ruled yesterday, sentencing the three to prison terms of 42 to 90 months.
Chang Wei-chen (張惟甄), Chiu Shou-yi (邱守毅) and Lin Yu-ying (林佑穎) headed a human trafficking ring that lured Taiwanese abroad, the court said in a statement.
The court found Chang guilty on three counts of recruiting people and organizing them to go abroad on false pretenses, and two counts of attempted recruitment on false pretenses, sentencing her to seven years and six months.
Photo: Chen Kuan-pei, Taipei Times
Chiu was sentenced to four years and six months for setting up social media accounts for the operation and transporting people to locations that were designated by Chang, the court added.
Lin was in charge of transporting people to hotels and helping them to prepare travel documents, the court said, adding that he was sentenced to three years and six months.
The rulings can be appealed.
The three deceived four men and three women into being trafficked to Southeast Asian nations from May to August last year, the court said.
They lured people to Cambodia and Thailand with promises of quick money and schemes guaranteeing benefits while living abroad, it said.
Once they arrived at their overseas destination, they had their passports confiscated and were put under armed guard while being forced to work in online scam centers, becoming “cyberslaves,” it said.
Those who disobeyed orders were punished or sold to other rings, while those who asked to return home were given the option of luring a replacement or organizing a ransom, it said.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
UNKNOWN TRAJECTORY: The storm could move in four possible directions, with the fourth option considered the most threatening to Taiwan, meteorologist Lin De-en said A soon-to-be-formed tropical storm east of the Philippines could begin affecting Taiwan on Wednesday next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The storm, to be named Fung-wong (鳳凰), is forecast to approach Taiwan on Tuesday next week and could begin affecting the weather in Taiwan on Wednesday, CWA forecaster Huang En-hung (黃恩鴻) said, adding that its impact might be amplified by the combined effect with the northeast monsoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the system’s center was 2,800km southeast of Oluanbi (鵝鑾鼻). It was moving northwest at 18kph. Meteorologist Lin De-en (林得恩) on Facebook yesterday wrote that the would-be storm is surrounded by
RSS