The Miaoli County District Court has sentenced a man to five years in prison for damaging the nation’s international image by running a romance scam targeting Chinese.
Court documents said that the man, surnamed Hsiao (蕭), headed the fraud ring, which was involved in 23 incidents and defrauded a male victim of 1,200 yuan (US$165.38) before it was busted by the police.
Hsiao in September 2021 set up computer centers in Miaoli County and Taichung, where he recruited young men and women to work for him, the ruling said.
Photo: Peng Chien-li, Taipei Times
The recruits looked for potential targets in China on social media and dating apps, it said.
During the trial, Hsiao denied founding the group or being involved in the scams, saying that the recruits were people who owed him money, a claim the judges rejected, court documents showed.
Regardless of their “success” rate or the amount defrauded, the action itself “had severely harmed the mutual trust between people, as well as caused enormous damage to the nation’s international image,” the ruling said.
Hsiao committed a serious crime by funding the group and he also showed no remorse, it said.
He was convicted of fraud as well as contravening the Organized Crime Prevention Act (組織犯罪防制條例).
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