Cross-strait scam ring busted in central Taiwan

The Hsinchu-headquartered fraud ring was reported to have swindled nearly NT$10 million (US$310,000) over the past three months. Police found telecommunications equipment and cash, including NT$4.75 million, 50,000 Chinese Yuan and 1.1 million Korean won, in the raids.

According to investigators, who began watching a couple named Shen in September following a tip off, members of the ring made phone calls to people in China pretending to be representatives of telecommunications companies. The scam was to tell their targets that their telephone bills were in arrears, or to pose as public security officers telling the targets that their bank accounts were found to have been used for money laundering.

Many people would fall into the trap of the swindlers and would provide personal data of their accounts or even make monetary transactions, according to the investigators.

An underground foreign exchange company in Taipei was found to have helped the group to transfer the money it made in China back to Taiwan.

Over the past few months, investigators and prosecutors in Taiwan have uncovered several scam rings targeting victims across the Taiwan Strait. The criminals are usually well-organized and include telecommunications specialists, underground foreign exchange companies and people skilled in imitating the various accents spoken in China. Some of the rings have even prepared instruction handbooks for their accomplices.

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