Taichung prosecutors have charged seven people on suspicion of coaxing a woman into purchasing NT$16 million (US$486,574) of stocks.
At a news conference on Tuesday, the Taichung Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Corps said that the seven indicted suspects, along with five others still under investigation, had allegedly ultimately defrauded the woman out of NT$13.7 million last year.
The unit declined to disclose information about the victim.
Photo: Chen Chien-chih, Taipei Times
Chang Kai-chih (張凱智), deputy head of the Criminal Investigation Corps’ eighth unit, said the case dates back to May last year, when the woman responded to a Facebook advertisement for a “stock investment expert” supposedly endorsed by Starlux Airlines founder Chang Kuo-wei (張國煒).
After adding the “expert” on the instant messaging app Line and downloading an investment app they recommended, the woman deposited NT$16 million over six separate face-to-face transactions.
In June and early July, the woman withdrew NT$2.3 million in “profit” after the app showed that the value of her investment had grown to NT$64 million, police said.
However, when she attempted to withdraw the money in early July, she was asked to pay a NT$6 million fee, they said.
While she negotiated the fee to NT$3 million, a friend intervened, warning her of the danger, which is when she alerted the police, they said.
A 20-year-old man surnamed Fang (方), identified in the case as a suspected “money mule,” was arrested when the woman met him in July, police said, adding that they seized from the man a forged identification card, deposit certificates, contracts and a mobile phone.
Between July and November, police arrested 11 additional suspects believed to be associated with the scam, all of whom have been handed over to the Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office, they said.
Prosecutors indicted seven suspects in November last year, police said, adding that they face charged related to aggravated fraud and other offenses under the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法) and the Organized Crime Prevention Act (組織犯罪條例).
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