A woman surnamed Liao (廖) and a man surnamed Huang (黃) have been indicted for orchestrating a cross-border “romance scam” that defrauded three US citizens of more than US$5.32 million, the Taichung District Prosecutors' Office said on Tuesday.
Prosecutors said in a news release that Liao, 36, led a fraud ring and recruited 39-year-old Huang to handle collection of illicit gains in 2023.
Liao allegedly used passports belonging to two unsuspecting people to open business accounts at US banks, which were later used to receive funds from victims lured into fraudulent investments.
Photo courtesy of Taichung District Prosecutors Office
The victims were first romantically manipulated to invest small amounts before transferring larger sums via bank remittance or in-person handovers to US-based accomplices Hsiao (肖) and Sun (孫) — both US citizens whose cases are being handled by US authorities, prosecutors said.
The illicit funds were allegedly laundered by depositing them into accounts held by Liao’s unsuspecting mother and by purchasing luxury items including a Swiss watch, an 8-carat diamond ring, Bitcoin and Tether cryptocurrencies, and a Lexus car.
Losses totaled US$5.32 million, prosecutors said.
Liao was arrested at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Jan. 24 after returning to Taiwan, based on evidence supplied by the US Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), which collaborated with the International Criminal Affairs Division (ICAD) of the Criminal Investigation Bureau.
An HSI team visited the Taichung District Prosecutors' Office in March under the Taiwan-US agreement on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters to question suspects and exchange evidence, prosecutors said.
Last month, prosecutors from Taichung and officials from ICAD traveled to Los Angeles and Nashville, where other members of the fraud ring were arrested and indicted, with support from the High Prosecutors' Office to coordinate with US counterparts and conduct witness interviews.
Chang Fu-chun (張富鈞) of the Taichung District Prosecutors' Office questioned Sun in Nashville, marking the first time since the legal assistance treaty was signed in March 2002 that a Taiwanese prosecutor traveled to the US to directly question a witness on-site under the bilateral legal assistance framework, the office said.
Liao and Huang were indicted for multiple offenses including aggravated fraud and money laundering under the Organized Crime Prevention Act, Money Laundering Control Act, Passport Act and Criminal Code.
Prosecutors are seeking a 10-year sentence for Liao and five years for Huang.
Seized assets were scheduled to be auctioned yesterday by the Taichung branch of the Ministry of Justice’s Administrative Enforcement Agency, with the proceeds to be returned to US authorities under Taiwanese law.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS