News Releases-Crackdown on Fraudulent Investment Platforms EGAMAX, FINCE and FOREX Asian Investment Platform (1110428)-Criminal Investigation Bureau, National Police Agency

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Publish Date：2022-04-28

Update Date：2022-04-28

Units：Criminal Information Division

Crackdown on Fraudulent Investment Platforms EGAMAX, FINCE and FOREX Asian Investment Platform (1110428)

Investigation unit: Taiwan New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, International Criminal Affairs Division of the Criminal Investigation Bureau, Haisan Precinct of New Taipei City Police Department, Criminal Investigation Division of Taipei City Police Department, Criminal Investigation Corps of Keelung City Police Bureau, Luodong Precinct of Yilan County Police Bureau, and Criminal Investigation Corps of the Pingtung County Police Bureau
Date of seizure: January 19, 2022 and April 8, 2022
Location of Seizure: Xinzhuang District and Sanchong District, New Taipei City and Sanxing Township, Yilan County
Suspects arrested: 15 suspects, including Chen○○
Illicit gains and evidence seized: $465,000 in cash, 47 mobile phones, 29 monitors, 18 host computers, 6 routers, 6 hammers, 9 burner (unregistered) SIM cards, etc.
Summary of criminal case:

The International Criminal Affairs Division of the Criminal Investigation Bureau analyzed the information reported by the public and determined that the fraud ring used social media such as Instagram, Facebook and YouTube to place advertisements with investment platform links and customer service IDs to attract people to click and watch, luring victims with claims such as "investment planning," "passive income," "part-time income," "guaranteed profit without losses," "easy to operate, low limits to join " and " easy paid, just have fun" so that victims can click on links, inquire and add as friend on messaging apps.
After the victims added the group on LINE , the fraudsters will ask them by unsolicited private message, "Do you need money? I can help you make money," "I can teach you how to invest and make money," " profit-making projects without charges" and " help you invest on foreign currencywithout charges," etc. After inducing victims to sign up for the fake investment platforms "EGAMAX," "FINCE" and "FOREX Asia Investment Trading Platform" and asking members to join the large groups such as "Dream Giant," "Meet Happiness" and "Peak of Glory," the fraud ring's members acted as "investors" to lead the way and plant the illusion that as long as they listened to the suggestions of "instructors" or "chief instructors" to invest in cryptocurrencies, foreign exchange and futures, etc., they would be able to profit. By doing so, victims were allured to remit money for investment and then got defrauded . When the victims found out that they were scammed , those fraudsters unfriended the victims is unfriended, kicked them out of the group or did not reply with reading messages. Therefore, the victims lost their fortune. This type of scamming tactics “ Lure, Bait and Hook” had have run for 4 months long since Oct 2021 to mid of Jan this year. Approximate there were 20 to 30 victims so far as reported to the police, and the initial estimated defrauded amount is over NT$10 million, one of the highest loss for the victim was up to $2.6 million.Recently, this kind of fraud is rampant and many people have fallen victims to the fraudulent scheme, hampering the public security very seriously. After receiving relevant intelligence, the CIB formed a task force with Haisan Branch of the New Taipei City Police Department and requested prosecutor Yang Wei-Hung of the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office (Jian Unit) to lead the investigation. After investigating and gathering evidence for several months , on January 19, 2022, with a search warrant issued by the New Taipei City District Court, a simultaneous search was conducted to crack down the fraudulent bases (two operating rooms) in Xinzhuang District and Sanchong District of New Taipei City. Thirteen members of the scam ring, including fake investors and fake instructors, were arrested on the spot for committing fraud. The court granted the request for the detention accused up, of the main leader (scammer) surnamed Tsai after an interrogation led by the prosecutor.
In order to trace the source of the fugitive ringleaders surnamed Chen and Huang, the task force persisted with the investigation. After nearly three months of tracking, analyzing hundreds of CCTV footages, searching suspicious premises across the nation, as well as ambushes and nighttime stakeouts, Chen and other suspects were discovered to be hiding out in a rural farmstead in Sanxing Township, Yilan County in early April. After obtaining a search warrant on April 8, the police launched an assult on the farmstead and apprehended the suspects. Two of the suspects, Chen and Huang, were interrogated by the prosecutor and were detained by the court immediately. The police urges the public to remain vigilant and suspicious of online chat groups or telephone calls claiming investment opportunities with big profits gained or LINE groups claiming stocks with easy money float and other suspicious information. Victims are usually drawn in with a small amount of profit initially while then being defrauded out of large amounts of money later on. These are common scam techniques and the public should be on guard for such tricks. The police are continuing to investigate related illegal behaviors (combating these crimes). Please contact Anti-Fraud 165 phone line if you encounter these kinds of scams to prevent falling into the trap.

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