A man and a woman in Taichung were sentenced for their involvement in a fraud case that had 117 victims in Canada, the US and other countries.
Six people were arrested last year, including a 38-year-old man surnamed Huang (黃) and a 35-year-old woman surnamed Hsieh (謝), when the Taichung City Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Corps officers raided a property in the city’s Beitun District (北屯).
Police found computers and cellphones at the property where the suspects allegedly had been engaging in fraud targeting Chinese living overseas, Taichung District Court documents showed.
Photo: Chang Jui-chen, Taipei Times
Huang and Hsieh allegedly pretended to be members of a telecommunications company, falsely claiming that the victim’s phone number had been used for criminal activity in China, and that they would assist them in reporting the case to the Chinese Public Security Bureau, an investigation found.
They would then make a second phone call impersonating a Chinese officer, who would say that the victim was suspected of involvement in money laundering and that their assets would be frozen.
Hsieh also hired a 33-year-old university graduate surnamed Chen (陳), who is fluent in English, to speak to the victims in English as a means of adding legitimacy to their claims of representing a large telecommunications company, the documents showed.
Hsieh had previously served eight years for fraud, and had joined Huang shortly after release from prison to commit fraud again, the police said.
Hsieh and Chen received six and three-year prison sentences respectively for their involvement in the case.
During the raid, Hsieh and Huang had attempted to destroy the evidence, and threw phones out the window, police said, adding that they allegedly had defrauded people of NT$10 million in total.
The court has not yet ruled on Huang’s case.
The US plans to deploy thousands of drones in the Taiwan Strait in an operation called “Hellscape” to ensure that any attempt by China to invade Taiwan does not succeed, US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo told the Washington Post. In an article published on Monday, columnist Josh Rogin quoted Paparo as saying from the sidelines of the recent Shangri-La Dialogue defense forum in Singapore that the “Hellscape” strategy would involve deploying thousands of uncrewed submarines, surface vessels and aerial vehicles around Taiwan to buy the nation, Washington and its partners time to assemble a response. The plan was devised to deter
INSECURITY: The Financial Times yesterday reported that in a EU-China meeting Xi said he would not ‘take the bait’ from the US Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) told European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that the US is luring China into a military conflict over Taiwan, the Financial Times cited a source as saying. Xi told Von der Leyen that the US was “trying to provoke Beijing by providing weapons to Taiwan,” but he would “not take the bait,” the Financial Times reported yesterday, The remarks were made during a meeting between Xi and Von der Leyen in April last year, it said. The report also quoted Center for Strategic and International Studies Freeman Chair in China Studies Jude Blanchette as
CHINESE THREAT: Twenty-two military aircraft and vessels were detected around Taiwan over 24 hours, including a drone that flew as close as 80km to Oluanpi China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) yesterday said that the Chinese man who drove a motorboat into a strategic river mouth in Taiwan on Sunday was acting on his own and would be punished upon his return to China. However, the National Security Bureau said it would not exclude any possibilities regarding the man’s motivations, including the Chinese government’s involvement. The man has been identified as a 60-year-old former Chinese navy captain surnamed Ruan (阮). Coast guard personnel on Sunday arrested Ruan in New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水) after his boat entered Tamsui River (淡水河). The boat was detected off the coast of
SHIN KONG SHENANIGANS: Eugene Wu is the father of Cynthia Wu, who was the TPP’s vice presidential candidate alongside Chairman Ko-Wen-je in January’s election Former Shin Kong Life Insurance Co chairman Eugene Wu (吳東進) and several other company executives are being investigated for alleged embezzlement and fraud resulting in corporate financial losses of about NT$150 million (US$4.63 million), New Taipei City prosecutors said yesterday. After being summoned to the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning, Wu was listed as among 17 suspects facing charges of aggravated breach of trust, embezzlement and breaches of the Insurance Act (保險法). Wu was released on bail of NT$100 million yesterday. The case has received much attention with Eugene Wu being the eldest son of Wu Ho-su (吳火獅), who founded Shin