The Criminal Investigation Bureau on Sunday warned of an increase in scams disguised as advertisements promising profitable stock investments.
These advertisements on social media entice people by using the photographs of prominent figures — such as Hsieh Chin-ho (謝金河), chairman of Investment Media, which publishes the Business Today and Wealth magazines — claiming they endorse the incvestment schemes, the bureau said in a release.
Other figures used include Sophie Chang (張淑芬), the wife of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co founder Morris Chang (張忠謀); Chen Ning-guan (陳凝觀), the host of Era Money (年代向錢看) on Next TV; and Daisy Chiu (邱沁宜), the host of Sunday Money Party (財經週日趴) on Formosa TV, the bureau said.
Photo: Screen grab from the Criminal Investigation Bureau’s Facebook page
In one case, a Taipei resident in his 40s surnamed Hsu (許) saw an advert on Facebook featuring a photograph of Sophie Chang, saying that she was promoting making a profit from stocks, it said.
Hsu joined a Line group chat where one financial adviser recommended a series of investment courses, the bureau said, adding that Hsu signed up to a Web site that gave instructions on which stocks to buy and when to sell.
In September, when Hsu wanted to collect his profits, the financial adviser immediately cut off contact, and Hsu realized he had been scammed for the past seven months, the bureau said.
Hsu lost more than NT$2 million (US$63,869), it said.
Bureau officials said they had worked with platform operators to remove the fraudulent advertising.
The bureau investigated 1,601 cases of investment fraud from January to October, 149 more than same period last year, the officials said, adding that 14,445 suspected fraudsters were arrested, a year-on-year increase of 1,554.
They said that NT$4.05 billion in illegal profits associated with these cases had been confiscated, compared with the NT$1.337 billion confiscated over the same period last year.
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