Authorities have busted one of the largest online gambling operations that mainly catered to Chinese clients, arresting 31 executives and staff working at an information technology (IT) company in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖), Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) officials said on Thursday.
A Chinese man surnamed Li (李) and his Taiwanese wife, surnamed Lin (林), both in their 30s, headed the operations, registered under the name Care Well Technology Co (啟諾科技), an IT and software service firm founded in 2021, the bureau told a news conference.
The couple, who previously worked as software engineers, hired more than 100 people to set up a system of casino Web sites that offer poker, mahjong and other games for people to bet on and gamble, said Ho Chia-hsuan (何嘉軒), a squad captain at the bureau’s First Investigation Corps.
Photo: Chiu Chun-fu, Taipei Times
“Besides online poker and casino games, they also offer sites for sports betting. Customers can place wagers on European Championship soccer, Olympic events and all types of international sports leagues. People can also bet on card games, as well as some obscure games that are not well-known in Taiwan, but are popular in China,” Ho said.
The bureau displayed computers, servers, telecom devices, mobile phones and other items that it had seized after raiding the company’s offices.
CIB investigators surfed online platforms and gaming sites last year, and discovered illegal gambling sites such as the Dragon Ace Casino (尊龍娛樂城) and four other online sites operated by Care Well Technology, Ho said.
“We monitored the company’s online gambling and money flow from last year to early this year. Our unit and other CIB investigators were astonished to find that customers, mainly Chinese, had wagered a total of NT$120 billion [US$3.72 billion] within just four months,” Ho said.
The investigation found that the couple received US$140,000 in monthly commissions, tagged as engaging in “customer service,” for a parent gaming company, officials said.
The parent company, an even larger business based in the Philippines, operates five major online casino sites catering to Chinese and Southeast Asian customers, officials said.
Records show that Care Well Technology has been expanding its operations in the past few years in response to the high demand, putting out adverts to recruit IT engineers and customer service staff who are proficient in Chinese, English and Japanese, Ho said.
After a period of surveillance and gathering evidence, bureau investigators in May raided the company’s offices and arrested 31 executives and staff, who have been listed as suspects following questioning by Taipei prosecutors.
The suspects could face additional charges if they are implicated as part of a transnational criminal ring and found to be involved in money laundering, bureau officials said.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
An inauguration ceremony was held yesterday for the Danjiang Bridge, the world’s longest single-mast asymmetric cable-stayed bridge, ahead of its official opening to traffic on Tuesday, marking a major milestone after nearly three decades of planning and construction. At the ceremony in New Taipei City attended by President William Lai (賴清德), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), the bridge was hailed as both an engineering landmark and a long-awaited regional transport link connecting Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里)
RSS