A Taiwanese man convicted over his role in a China-based fraud syndicate has been sentenced to nine years in prison by the Hsinchu District Court.
Police said Chu Lun-kuan (朱倫寬) played a behind-the-scenes leadership role in a fraud ring based in China’s Fujian Province that defrauded 35 people in Taiwan of a combined NT$44.26 million (US$1.4 million).
Chu joined the group’s overseas scam call center operation in 2023, acting as a liaison between the call center and the money-laundering arm. He served as an intermediary, transmitting victims’ transfer records and information on first and second-layer nominee bank accounts used to move illicit funds, court documents showed.
Photo: Taipei Times
Another defendant, Rao Cheng-yen (饒承晏), was identified as an upstream member of the call-center side of the organization who, under Chu’s direction, also relayed people’s payment records and information, the court said.
The fraud ring used a variety of schemes, including false claims involving profits from trading, stocks, real-estate, online gambling, online marketplaces and shopping platforms, as well as fake romantic relationships and fraudulent job offers, the court said.
After victims transferred money, syndicate members allegedly converted the proceeds into tether — a cryptocurrency — before moving the funds into digital wallets controlled by Chu.
Rao was also found to have helped receive and conceal proceeds of crime to break money trails and obstruct investigations into criminal assets.
The group defrauded 35 people of a total of NT$44.26 million. During the investigation, prosecutors found that Chu had purchased a home in Taichung worth about NT$40 million. Prosecutors in Hsinchu had the property seized, with approval from the Hsinchu District Court.
The judge said Chu had established the money laundering and online components of the criminal network, while Rao directed the laundering side of the operation.
Their crimes caused severe financial losses that would be difficult for victims to recover, encouraged fraud, undermined social trust and harmed public security, the court said.
Neither defendant reached settlements with victims or compensated them for losses, the court said.
Chu was sentenced on 35 fraud counts to nine years in prison, while Rao received six years. Unseized criminal proceeds totaling NT$8.5 million were also ordered confiscated.
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