The Criminal Investigation Bureau on Friday said it has arrested 21 people on suspicion of scamming a retired teacher out of nearly NT$50 million (US$1.56 million).
The suspects have been transferred to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on charges of violating the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法), the Organized Crime Prevention Act (組織犯罪防制條例) and the Criminal Code, it added.
Investigators said the group allegedly impersonated financial expert Lee Shu-fang (李蜀芳) to lure victims into Line groups, where members played multiple roles to create the impression of a legitimate investment community.
Photo: Taipei Times
The group allegedly instructed victims to download a fake investment app that displayed fabricated gains — at one point showing returns of up to NT$250 million — to encourage further cash or gold payments, police said.
A retired teacher in Taipei in his 60s mortgaged his home and invested his life savings, losing about NT$50 million, police said.
The victim realized it was a scam only after being asked to pay tens of millions of New Taiwan dollars in “processing fees,” police said.
Police identified Kuo Chi-feng (郭祈峰) and his brother as key suspects, noting their lavish lifestyle despite having no apparent source of income.
Among items seized during the arrest included a Porsche Cayenne, a Mercedes-Benz, 12 luxury handbags and NT$390,000 in cash from their residence, police said.
Separately, in another suspected investment scam, the Taipei District Court yesterday approved prosecutors’ request and detained four suspects, while releasing two others on bail of NT$500,000 and NT$100,000 respectively.
Prosecutors said the alleged ringleader, Chiu Chih-hao (邱志豪), solicited cash or ethereum investments for a fraudulent scheme known as “TBT Symptom,” which allegedly defrauded thousands of people out of more than NT$5 billion combined.
The group claimed to operate a decentralized finance platform and offered a cryptocurrency, EGT, as collateral, promising monthly returns of 3 to 7 percent.
While Chiu and eight other suspects have been detained since January, a second round of investigations on Thursday involved nine additional suspects.
Chiu was also implicated in last year’s Absolute Energy scam.
The Absolute Energy scheme, launched in 2023, claimed to invest in cryptocurrency and clean energy, promising returns of 25 to 42 percent. It was later found to be a Ponzi scheme that defrauded 316 people out of a combined NT$270 million.
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