[{"subject":"A Fraud for an Amount of NT$570 Million Was Committed by 42 Suspects of a Money Laundering Center, with 11 Suspects in Custody!","dataClassName":"News Releases","pubUnitName":"Criminal Information Division","posterDate":"2026-02-25","updateDate":"2026-02-25","detailContent":"\r\n
Police Ambushed and Arrested “Money Mules” outside a Financial Institution to Protect over One Hundred Potential Victims
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
一、
\r\nInvestigating Departments:
\r\nTaiwan New Taipei District Prosecutors Office (Section Zhang)
\r\nFirst Investigation Corps of the Criminal Investigation Bureau (Squadron III)
\r\nDaan Precinct, Xinyi Precinct, and Anti-theft Section of Criminal Investigation Division, Taipei City Police Department
\r\nThe 6th Precinct, and Investigation 5th Brigade of the Criminal Investigation Division, Taichung City Police Department
\r\nInvestigation 8th Brigade of the Criminal Investigation Division, Taoyuan Police Department
\r\nLingya Precinct, Renwu Precinct, Investigation 4th Brigade of the Criminal Investigation Division, Kaohsiung City Police Department
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
二、
\r\nTime of Seizure: April, June, July, September, and October, 2025
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
三、
\r\nLocation of Seizure: Keelung City, Taipei City, New Taipei City, Taichung City, Changhua County, Kaohsiung City, etc.
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
四、
\r\nSuspects: Suspect Xie (born in 1993), Suspect Chen (born in 1991), Suspect Zhan (born in 1983), and others for a total of 42 suspects.
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
五、
\r\nStolen Property and Evidence Seized:
\r\nThe seized items included over NT$2.12 million in cash, USDT 15,942 units, 22 mobile phones, 2 computers, 2 machetes, 1 small samurai sword, 1 switchblade, 12 bank passbooks, and 8 Debit Cards.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
(一)
\r\nThe First Investigation Corps of the Criminal Investigation Bureau outlined the scheme of a fraud syndicate through the big data analysis on the 165 Anti-Fraud System platform. The fraud syndicate used fake investment websites to lure victims to invest. The victims were tricked into investing small amounts at the beginning, then the fraud syndicate assigned “money mules” to have funds transferred to the victims’ designated accounts by bank transfers at the counters or by other methods. Victims were misled by the illusion of investment profits and continued to invest large sums of money. The task force identified the suspected “money mule” and formed a joint task force with the Daan Precinct of Taipei City Police Department and other units; also, the criminal act was reported to the Chief Prosecutor, Wen-Han Liu, of Taiwan New Taipei District Prosecutors Office (Section Zhang) for investigation.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
(二)
\r\nThe task force apprehended a suspect Yu involved in online group purchasing fraud in April 2025. Brothers Zhan, who provided the funds, were tracked down after a further investigation was conducted. After identifying the “money mules” through big data analysis during the period from April to October, police staked out and arrested the perpetrators outside a financial institution, with nearly NT$330,000 seized at the scene. Four raids were conducted on the money laundering center, resulting in the arrest of the 2 masterminds, Xie and Chen, 10 “cadres,” and 30 “money mules” for a total of 42 suspects in custody. The court ordered the detention of 11 suspects, including the main suspect Chen and his associates. The seized items included over NT$2.12 million in cash, USDT 15,942 units, mobile phones, bank passbooks, and Debit Cards. There was a total of 425 victims with losses exceeding NT$570 million. The case has been transferred to Taiwan New Taipei District Prosecutors Office for investigation on charges of violating the Fraud Crime Hazard Prevention Act, the Organized Crime Prevention Act, the Aggravated Fraud Act, and the Money Laundering Prevention Act.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
(三)
\r\nThe Criminal Investigation Bureau urges the public to be aware of the prevalence of fraudulent investment schemes. Perpetrators often take advantage of human nature to entice victims with small profits and funds before scheming large sums of money from victims. The National Police Agency’s Anti-Fraud dashboard publishes daily reports on fraud and crimes committed nationwide. The public may visit the website to learn more, call the 165 Anti-Fraud Hotline, or go to the nearest police station for verification.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
一、
\r\nInvestigation Departments：Taiwan Ciaotou District Prosecutors Office, the International Criminal Affairs Division of the Criminal Investigation Bureau, the Police Liaison Office in Hanoi, Vietnam, the Criminal Investigation Division of the Taipei City Police Department, the Criminal Investigation Corps of the Police Department of Taichung City Government, the Minsyong Precinct of ChiaYi County Police Department, the Yancheng Precinct and Cianjhen Precinct of the Kaohsiung City Police Department, the 1st Brigade of the 3rd Special Police Corps, NPA, MOI, Taichung Precinct of the Railway Police Bureau, and Taipei Customs, CA, MOF.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
二、
\r\nTime of Seizure: October 23, 2025
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
三、
\r\nLocation of Seizure: Taipei City, Taichung City, and Kaohsiung City
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
四、
\r\nSuspects: MU-○ (female, born in 1993), SI-○ (male, born in 1983), and JIN-○ (female, born in 1988), a total of three suspects apprehended (all of them are Thai nationals).
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
五、
\r\nStolen property and evidence seized: 19.875 kgs of heroin, 13 resin art lamps, 7 boxes of packages, and 2 mobile phones used in the crime.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
六、
\r\nCase Summary:
\r\nThe Criminal Investigation Bureau received intelligence indicating that Vietnam and Laos had recently uncovered several heroin smuggling crimes, suspected that cross-border drug trafficking rings had drugs hidden in “art lamps” as a disguise for customs clearance in order to have them smuggled into Vietnam or Taiwan. The Criminal Investigation Bureau investigated such a crime by requesting the Police Liaison Office in Vietnam to contact the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security. The task force had indeed discovered suspicious packages sent from Vietnam to Taiwan recently through the exchange and comparison of cross-border intelligence, including detecting frequent change of waybill numbers, consistently declared contents of home decorations such as lamps, and recipients who were not Taiwanese citizens but foreign nationals from Thailand or Vietnam - all of which matched the big data analysis.
\r\n
\r\nThe task force then reported the crimes by the reporting area to Taiwan Ciaotou District Prosecutors Office for investigations. Prosecutor Kan-Ying Li coordinated the task force to conduct unpacking, inspection, and tracing investigations. The task force, together with the Customs Administration of the Ministry of Finance, inspected the contents of the packages and discovered that the drug trafficking rings had concealed heroin in the bases of art lamps, a highly sophisticated concealing method, on October 23, 2025. The base of each art lamp could hold four (4) blocks of drugs. A total of 7 suspicious packages and 13 art lamps were seized after a thorough inspection, which contained 52 blocks of Double UOGlobe brand heroin, a total of 19.875 kilograms, with a black-market value of over NT$200 million. The task force had successfully prevented massive amounts of drugs from flowing into the Taiwanese market.
\r\n
\r\nThe task force subsequently traced the receiving suspects in Taiwan and discovered that the drug trafficking rings deliberately changed the recipient’s identity several times, with the delivery destinations set at the chain stores in different counties and cities. Furthermore, the delivered packages were often left unclaimed, suggesting a deliberate attempt to evade detection by having the delivered packages claimed late, indicating an advanced counter-surveillance awareness on the part of the drug trafficking rings. The task force after reviewing written documents and analyzing surveillance footage determined that the drug trafficking ring’s true operation involved upstream agents’ appointing Thai suspects MU-○ and SI-○ to fly from Thailand to Taiwan, to pick up the packages directly from the freight company, and then to deliver them to a motel to be picked up by local Taiwanese members.
\r\n
\r\nThe task force after learning such operation monitored the entire process of the two Thai suspects from picking up the packages and delivering them to the hotel, then taking advantage of the suspects’ absence while shopping to swiftly arrest them and search the hotel rooms, and discovering that the packages had been opened and inspected. In order to further destroy the drug network in Taiwan, the task force continued to employ delaying tactics, preventing the drug trafficking rings from immediately monitoring the package status and forcing the Taiwanese members to collect the packages in person. Eventually, the task force successfully arrested three suspects at the receiving end. The investigated criminal act was reported to Taiwan Ciaotou District Prosecutors Office for further investigation in accordance with the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act. The Thai recipients, MU-○ and SI-○, were ruled to be held in detention and incommunicado by court order.
\r\n
\r\nIn order to implement the anti-drug strategy in Phase three “Establishing an international anti-drug cooperation network to intercept drugs overseas” of the Executive Yuan’s “New Generation Anti-Drug Strategy,” the task force of the Criminal Investigation Bureau has collaborated with the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security to exchange intelligence on cross-border drug trafficking; also, joined forces with Vietnamese and Lao police to jointly pursue cross-border drug trafficking rings, demonstrate the Taiwanese police’s “hardcore” capabilities in anti-drug effort, deepen cross-border cooperation between Taiwan and Vietnam, and show the Criminal Investigation Bureau’s firm determination in combating international drug crimes. The Criminal Investigation Bureau will continue to exchange intelligence and cooperate with domestic and international anti-drug agencies to prevent drugs from flowing into Taiwan and endangering public health as a result.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
一、
\r\nInvestigation Departments:Taiwan Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office, First Investigation Corps of the Criminal Investigation Bureau(CIB), Criminal Investigation Corps of Kaohsiung City Police Department, Criminal Investigation Corps of New Taipei City Police Department, Criminal Investigation Corps of Taichung City Government Police Department, Criminal Investigation Corps of Yilan County Police Department, and Criminal Investigation Corps of Taoyuan City Police Department.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
二、
\r\nTime of Seizure: January 7, 2026
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
三、
\r\nLocation of Seizure: Nanzi Dist., Kaohsiung City
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
四、
\r\nSuspects: The main suspect, Zheng, and others, for a total of 36 suspects.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
五、
\r\nStolen property and evidence seized:The Evidence included company seals (both the official seal and authorized representative’s seal), purchase and sales invoices, forged National Taxation Bureau receipt stamps, computer files from the accounting firm, and mobile phones.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
(一)
\r\nThe First Investigation Corps of CIB analyzed cases involving fraud committed through corporate accounts and discovered that one individual had applied for multiple company accounts or the authorized representatives of one company had been frequently changed, ultimately resulting in such accounts becoming dummy accounts used by a fraud ring. For example, when applying for corporate online banking, the designated transfer amount for a single transaction could reach as high as NT$50 million (the same currency referred to hereinafter). Apparently, fraud involving corporate accounts is gradually becoming serious. First Investigation Corps of the Criminal Investigation Bureau reviewed the 165 data analysis and formed a special task force with police departments in Kaohsiung City, Taichung City, Taoyuan City, New Taipei City, and Yilan County. The task force then reported the case to Prosecutor Ting-Chieh Tsai of Taiwan Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office for investigation.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
(二)
\r\nThe task force reviewed relevant information from the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, various county and city governments, and financial institutions, with a CPA Firm in Kaohsiung City identified as the major suspect. Statistics showed that 20% of the companies registered through this CPA Firm became alert accounts, which exceeded the national average of 1.8%. Further investigation revealed that members of the fraud ring used the tax-saving excuse to acquire personal data through relatives and the internet, which was then handed over to the CPA to assist the fraud ring in completing company registration. The CPA had roughly profited multi-millions dollars from such fraud practice.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
(三)
\r\nThe task force presented arrest warrants and search warrants that were issued by Taiwan Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office and the Court, together with personnel from the National Taxation Bureau of the Southern Area of the Ministry of Finance, to investigate and arrest 36 suspects, including CPA Zheng (and 10 employees) in Kaohsiung City, New Taipei City, Taichung City, Yilan, Pingtung, etc. Evidence, including company seals (both the official seal and the authorized representative’s seal), purchase and sales invoices, forged National Taxation Bureau receipt stamps, computer files from the accounting firm, and mobile phones that were seized at two accounting firms in Kaohsiung City. The case was transferred to Taiwan Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office for investigation on charges of violating Fraud Crime Hazard Prevention Act, Money Laundering Control Act, Company Act, Tax Collection Act, and Business Entity Accounting Act. The judge ordered that CPA Zheng be detained after being interrogated by the prosecutor.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
(四)
\r\nCIB hereby urges all CPAs and related professionals not to work for fraud syndicates in setting up dummy companies for petty gains. The general public should also refrain from casually handing over their identification documents to others to set up dummy companies and act authorized representative. It will not only violate the Company Act and may also involve in multiple charges against the Money Laundering Control Act, the Tax Collection Act, and the Business Entity Accounting Act. If the company is involved in fraud, the victim will also seek compensation, making it a total loss. The National Police Agency continues to require all police agencies nationwide to trace the source of cases involving fraudulent company registrations, interrupt the fraud supply chain, and ensure the property safety of the general public.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
一、
\r\nInvestigation Departments: Taiwan Taipei District Prosecutors Office （Section “Yi”）, Third Investigation Brigade of Criminal Investigation Bureau （3rd Brigade）, and Zhonghe Precinct and Luzhou Precinct of New Taipei City Police Department
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
二、
\r\nTime of Seizure: July 15 and July 21, 2025
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
三、
\r\nLocation of Seizure: Bali District, New Taipei City and Guishan District, Taoyuan City
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
四、
\r\nSuspects: Su ○○ （male, born in 1997）, Fan ○○ （male, born in 2002, Vietnamese nationality）, and Phan ○○ （male, born in 2000, Vietnamese nationality） for a total of three persons.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
五、
\r\nStolen property and evidence seized: The evidence included two boxes of international express parcels, 6,668 grams of marijuana （a Class II controlled substance）, five mobile phones, NT$24,000, one iron shovel, and one round spade.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
(一)
\r\nThe Criminal Investigation Bureau was informed by Taipei Customs of the Customs Administration, Ministry of Finance on July 9, 2025 that two international parcels mailed from Malaysia to Taiwan contained 4,373 grams of marijuana, a Class II controlled substance. Third Investigation Brigade of Criminal Investigation Bureau then convened a special task force composed of relevant units and reported the case to Taiwan Taipei District Prosecutors Office for investigation.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
(二)
\r\nThe task force conducted a surveillance to collect evidence and to obtain evidence of the suspects’ drug trafficking activities and current residence. Based on this information, two raids were launched on July 15 and July 21, 2025. Three suspects were apprehended: the drug recipient Fan, the drug supplier Pan, and the drug dealer Su. Seized evidence included:4,373 grams of marijuana （a Class II controlled substance）, two international parcels, NT$24,000, one iron shovel, one spade, and five mobile phones. An additional 2,295 grams of marijuana were found at the location where the suspects had hidden the drugs.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
(三)
\r\nAccording to the investigation conducted by the task force, Suspect Pan orchestrated the drug trafficking operation, directed his subordinate, Suspect Fan, an escaped foreign worker, to set up multiple checkpoints by hiding the packages in an attempt to evade detection. However, the task force persevered and eventually apprehended the three drug traffickers and the drug dealer. After interrogation, three suspects were transferred to Taiwan Taipei District Prosecutors Office for further investigation in accordance with the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act. Subsequently, Suspect Su and Suspect Pan were both ordered to be detained.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
(四)
\r\nAn investigation revealed that the drug trafficking syndicate concealed drugs in international parcels and recruited Vietnamese runaway migrant workers to receive the packages. The drugs were then delivered to the actual owners through an “indirect delivery” method, avoiding a face-to-face delivery. Fortunately, the Criminal Investigation Bureau cooperated with Customs to intercept the drugs in time, preventing the drug from entering the market and harming Taiwanese citizens. The Criminal Investigation Bureau will continue to trace the origin of the drug trafficking syndicate.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
(五)
\r\nDirector of the Criminal Investigation Bureau, Yu-Wei Chou, stated that drugs seriously affected social order and the physical and mental health of the citizens. Participation in the production, transportation, and sale of drugs is a serious criminal offense, and the offenders may face lifetime imprisonment. All individuals are urged not to break the law. The Criminal Investigation Bureau will continue to vigorously crack down on illegal gangs and drug trafficking rings, and will work with Customs to completely block all transportation channels - including international parcels, freight, air, sea, and land routes- in order to combat and dismantle drug manufacturing, delivery, and trafficking organizations, thereby safeguarding the peaceful and prosperous living space of the citizens.
\r\n
\r\n
Call for Taiwan’s substantive participation in INTERPOL—enhancing joint efforts to combat transnational crime through real-time intelligence exchange
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
Founded in 1923, INTERPOL currently has 196 member states, making it the world’s second-largest international organization after the United Nations. INTERPOL is an essential platform for global law enforcement cooperation. It closely monitors transnational criminal activity including terrorism, cybercrime, and organized crime, and conducts exchanges with law enforcement agencies worldwide through its network of National Central Bureaus.
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\n
INTERPOL’s mandate is to ensure and promote the widest possible mutual assistance between all criminal police authorities. Yet, for more than four decades, Taiwan has been unjustly excluded from the organization for political reasons.
\r\n\r\n
\r\nTaiwan’s law enforcement authorities have extensive experience and expertise in crime prevention, public safety, and international cooperation. They have achieved significant success in areas such as combating drug smuggling and cyberfraud, earning Taiwan a strong reputation in the international community.
\r\n
\r\nHowever, Taiwan is unable to access INTERPOL’s databases, participate in its events, and share information with other countries in real time. This hampers Taiwan’s ability to counter transnational crime, encourages criminals to expand cross-border activities, and undermines the security of Taiwan, the Indo-Pacific, and the rest of the world.
\r\n
\r\nGlobalization has accelerated the transnational development of crime. Criminals and illicit assets can move swiftly across borders, meaning that drug smuggling, human trafficking, cybercrime, and other illegal activities are not confined to individual countries or regions, but are challenges facing the whole international community.
\r\n
\r\nAt a time when crime is becoming increasingly globalized and sophisticated, it is imperative for the world’s police to work together to build a seamless and inclusive global security network. Enhanced international cooperation is needed to effectively combat cross-border illegal activity and safeguard global stability. Taiwan’s participation in INTERPOL would enable countries to coordinate their efforts in an unimpeded manner, confront common threats, and uphold public safety and order.
\r\n\r\n
Taiwan’s strong capabilities in combating crime
\r\n\r\n
According to the Numbeo global database, Taiwan ranks fourth in safety among 147 countries worldwide. Taiwan’s high placement is due to its low crime rate, strong sense of community, effective law enforcement, and close civic cooperation with the police. Taiwan’s crime rate is just over 1,200 reported incidents per 100,000 people, with homicide at only 2.3 per 100,000—far below the global average. This internationally recognized public safety record sets an important benchmark for law enforcement policymakers around the world, and makes Taiwan an attractive destination for international travelers.
\r\n
\r\nAs a responsible member of the international community, Taiwan is ready to play a full part in fighting transnational crime, contributing to criminal investigations, and working with partner countries to protect the safety and property of people around the world.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
Supporting Taiwan to close the gap in the global security network
\r\n\r\n
Taiwan has had success in combating telecom fraud, drug trafficking, and other cross-border crimes. In the fisheries sector, it has long-term experience in identifying vessels involved in human trafficking; forced labor; and illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing.
\r\n
\r\nBut without access to INTERPOL’s I-24/7 global police communications system, Taiwan cannot share urgent information and join coordinated enforcement efforts in real time. Delays in reporting can lead to loss of evidence, failure to apprehend suspects, and unnecessary suffering of victims. Taiwan’s absence undermines the international law enforcement framework and creates a significant gap in global security. This should be recognized as a matter of serious concern.
\r\n
\r\n
Taiwan is a reliable law enforcement partner for countries worldwide
\r\n\r\n
In recent years, fraud and other financial crimes have become increasingly transnational. Scam syndicates have shifted operations to such countries as Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos. Victims from around the world have been lured to the region through false promises of travel and employment, only to be trapped in scam centers where they are forced to carry out financial crimes. Some are even sexually exploited, sold to other criminal groups, or trafficked for organ harvesting.
\r\n
\r\nA crime trend update published by INTERPOL on June 30 warned of the globalization of human trafficking-fueled scam centers. The report noted that as of March, people from 66 countries across all five continents had been trafficked into such operations, with the estimated number of victims running into the hundreds of thousands.
\r\n
\r\nTaiwan’s police have the experience, expertise, and capacity to assist in combating and preventing such crimes. In 2024, Taiwan broke up an online forum for large-scale distribution of child sexual exploitation materials called the Creative Private Room. The message board, which had over 5,000 members, enabled the easy exchange of child sexual exploitation content, using cryptocurrency payments to evade detection by law enforcement agencies. The platform’s mastermind, known online as Lao Ma, was based in China. The case involved encrypted communications, anonymous networks, cryptocurrency laundering, and cross-border coordination—all key challenges that the international community faces in combating online abuse of children. The investigation highlighted Taiwan’s determination and capacity to tackle cybercrime as well as underscoring its commitment and readiness to cooperate with the international community to protect children and combat transnational sexual exploitation.
\r\n\r\n
Global call for Taiwan’s substantive participation in INTERPOL
\r\n\r\n
In an article published on September 5, titled “Taiwan’s INTERPOL Exclusion Undermines Global Policing Efforts,” Dr. John Coyne of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute argued that Taiwan was an important and capable partner in the Indo-Pacific region. He pointed out that its ports, airlines, and banking system were prime targets for transnational criminals. Dr. Coyne stated that Taiwan’s exclusion led to delays in intelligence sharing and apprehension efforts, limiting the effectiveness of international joint action.
\r\n
\r\nFaced with a growing epidemic in transnational crime, the international community must strengthen intelligence exchange and deepen partnerships to improve cross-border law enforcement. We urge all countries to support Taiwan’s bid to participate as an observer in the INTERPOL General Assembly and to meaningfully engage in INTERPOL meetings, mechanisms, and activities, so that Taiwan and INTERPOL’s member states can engage in unhindered interactions. Taiwan remains committed to strengthening communications and cooperation with countries worldwide and working with the international community to combat transnational crime.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\nChou Yew-woei
\r\nCommissioner
\r\nCriminal Investigation Bureau
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
一、
\r\nInvestigation Departments: Taiwan Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office
\r\nInternational Criminal Affairs Division of Criminal Investigation Bureau
\r\nDayuan Precinct of Taoyuan Police Department
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
二、
\r\nTime of Seizure: September 24, 2025
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
三、
\r\nLocation of Seizure: Dayuan District, Taoyuan City
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
四、
\r\nSuspects: Fan ○○ (male, born in 2004)
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
五、
\r\nStolen property and evidence seized: None
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
(一)
\r\nTo enhance cross-border law enforcement capabilities, the Criminal Investigation Bureau(CIB) continues to host professional training programs for cross-border law enforcement personnel and to enhance cooperation with international law enforcement agencies. CIB has also actively developed bilateral and multilateral partnerships through concrete actions such as joint efforts in apprehending fugitives. CIB’s Vietnam Liaison Office collaborated with Vietnamese law enforcement agencies on numerous occasions in September 2025 to have nine fugitives arrested, which was quite a remarkable achievement, of which, the arrest of a suspected human trafficking ring leader, Suspect Fan, was most impressive.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
(二)
\r\nSuspect Fan has been involved in human trafficking crimes since 2022,serving as a recruiting cadre at a fraud ring in Cambodia for years. He advertised fictitious high-paying and low-laboring jobs on social media to lure victims to Cambodia to engage in telecom fraud and human trafficking. Once inside the scam compound, the victims would be placed under his supervision. Suspect Fan beat or tortured the insubordinates, forced them to do push-ups, carry heavy buckets, and subjected them to many abusive treatments. Even pregnant victims were subjected to inhumane treatment. In addition, several victims who attempted to escape were forced to pay “ransoms” more or less than NT$150,000. Several victims who were rescued and returned to Taiwan testified against Fan for the crimes he committed. Since Suspect Fan fled overseas, he is wanted by five district prosecutors’ offices for human trafficking and related offenses.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
(三)
\r\nCIB successfully cracked down the Inward Resource Group Limited to which Suspect Fan belonged and arrested his accomplices in Taiwan in 2023. However, Suspect Fan remained a fugitive at large,hiding in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand. He collaborated with Chinese gangs to form a human trafficking ring and continued to engage in cross-border crimes. Finally, the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’Office, the CIB, and the Vietnam Liaison Office continued to investigate, through international law enforcement cooperation and the real-time intelligence sharing and finally apprehended Suspect Fan by the Vietnamese police. Suspect Fan was then escorted back to Taiwan by the officers from International Criminal Affairs Division of CIB and the Vietnam Liaison Office. The Taoyuan District Court ordered his detention after further interrogation by prosecutors and police marking a significant step in suppressing human trafficking rings.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
(四)
\r\nCIB reminds the citizens not to trust online job postings or recommendations of high-paying jobs in Southeast Asia from unknown sources. Take initiative to verify the authenticity of job postings to avoid falling prey to overseas job scams. Those with questions may call the 165 anti-fraud hotline or visit the “Overseas Scams” section on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ official website. Information on various cases is compiled in this section, emergency contact numbers for overseas assistance and the Taiwan Emergency Contact hotline (0800-085-095) are also provided to ensure timely assistance.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
一、
\r\nInvestigation Departments: Taiwan Taichung District Prosecutors Office (Subdivision Xiao) Prosector Lien Li, International Criminal Affairs Division of Criminal Investigation Bureau (First Investigation Corps), Taipei City Police Department (Criminal Investigation Division Anti-theft Section, Wanhua Precinct), Taoyuan Police Department (Dayuan Precinct, Taoyuan Precinct), Taichung City Police Department (Fongyuan Precinct, Criminal Investigation Division-3rd Investigation Corps), Taichung City Specialized Operation Brigades of National Immigration Agency, Nantou County Police Department -Jiji Precinct, Chiayi County Police Department (Criminal Investigation Division – 3rd Investigation Corps, Zhongpu Precinct), Tainan City Police Department – 2nd Precinct
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
二、
\r\nTime of Seizure: From November 25, 2024 to August 26, 2025.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
三、
\r\nLocation of Seizure: Taoyuan City, Taichung City, Changhua County, Nantou City, and Chiayi City.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
四、
\r\nSuspects: 15 suspects of Vietnam nationality including suspect Ruan, and 4 suspects of Taiwan nationality including suspect Lin.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
五、
\r\nSeized Evidence:388,888 Tether coins (equivalent to approximately NT$11.16 million), 1 luxury car, NTD850,000 in cash, 60 ATM cards for committing the crime, 10 laptops for online transfer (including card readers), 1 air riot gun and 1 imitation firearm, 175 bullets, 1 magazine, 4 plaques, Schedule-2 Drug Etomidate and cannabis, Schedule-3 Drug Ketamine, and other illicit stolen goods.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
(一)
\r\nAfter the International Criminal Affairs Division received a report on information related to foreign money mules with criminal acts all over Taiwan and the cross-border account collection syndicate, the Division immediately reported and invited Taiwan Taichung District Prosecutors Office (Subdivision Xiao) Prosector Lien Li to act as the commander in investigation. The International Criminal Affairs Division also invited Taipei City Police Department (Criminal Investigation Division Anti-theft Section, Wanhua Precinct), Taoyuan Police Department (Dayuan Precinct, Taoyuan Precinct), Taichung City Police Department (Fongyuan Precinct, Criminal Investigation Division-3rd Investigation Corps), Taichung City Specialized Operation Brigades of National Immigration Agency, Nantou County Police Department -Jiji Precinct, Chiayi County Police Department (Criminal Investigation Division – 3rd Investigation Corps, Zhongpu Precinct), Tainan City Police Department – 2nd Precinct, to form a project team and conduct in-depth investigation.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
(二)
\r\nThe project team discovered that the Vietnamese syndicate leader suspect Nguyen ○○ , who acquired ATM cards of dummy accounts from bank accounts owned by foreigners in counties/cities of Taiwan every day at a price between NTD16,000 and NTD21,000. Suspect Nguyen then distributed the ATM cards to money mule leaders of foreign nationality, hidden in different counties and cities. The money mule leaders then handed over the ATM cards to money mules of foreign nationality under their leadership, so the money mules could collect money intensively from ATM machines. After they withdrew the money, they submitted the money to the cash collector level to level. The collected money was laundered through cryptocurrency, creating a cashflow breakpoint and to disguise and conceal the proceeds of fraud crimes.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
(三)
\r\nSince late November 2024, the project team launched intensive source-tracing and crackdown operations. The syndicate of foreign nationality, including “money mules (leader).” “account collector (ringleader),” “national (regional) money collectors” were apprehended through 5 operations. Then, the “fake online auction” fraud organization operated remotely by ringleader-suspect Lin of Taiwanese nationality, hidden behind the syndicate, was traced and apprehended. The “money laundering and collecting center” and “fraud computer room” jointly operated by 2 ganglands were successfully broken down. Additionally, 388,888 units of Tether (USDT) (worth approximately NTD11,160,000), 1 luxury car, NTD850,000 in cash, 60 ATM cards for committing the crime, 10 laptops for online transfer (including card readers), 1 air riot gun and 1 imitation firearm, 175 bullets, 1 magazine, 4 plaques, Schedule-2 Drug Etomidate and cannabis, Schedule-3 Drug Ketamine, and other illicit stolen goods, were seized.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
(四)
\r\nThe key Vietnamese Nguyen ○○ has been ruled and sentenced to imprisonment of 12 years and 6 months, and the money mule leader-suspect Nguyen ○○ was sentenced to imprisonment of 10 years and 2 months at the court of first instance by the Taiwan Taichung District Court. The four suspects of Taiwan nationality, including suspect Lin, were investigated and prosecuted with multiple accounts for crimes in violation of the Fraud Crime Hazard Prevention Act, Money Laundering Control Act, Organized Crime Prevention Act, and fraud in the Taiwan Criminal Code, subject to a specific sentencing of 30 years imprisonment.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
(五)
\r\nTo fight against fraud-related crimes, the Criminal Investigation Bureau will continue to trace the root of scam syndicates and encourage the public to report couriers involved in fraudulent activities.If any illegal activity is discovered, please immediately dial 110 or visit the nearest police station to provide criminal information for investigation. Additionally, the public is reminded not to provide account information with money collection, as this will make the account holder an accomplice, which is not worth the risk.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
一、
\r\nInvestigating Departments:
\r\nTaiwan New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, International Criminal Affairs Division of Criminal Investigation Bureau, Homeland Security Investigations Taipei, New Taipei City Police Department- Yonghe Precinct, Taipei City Police Department - Criminal Investigation Division
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
二、
\r\nTime of Seizure: January 2nd, 2025, April 22th, 2025, May 21th, 2025
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
三、
\r\nLocation of Seizure: Taipei City, New Taipei City
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
四、
\r\nSuspects: Nine suspects including suspect Wu (male, born 1974)-financier of the high-tech company, suspect Huang (male, born 1979 ) -owner of the high-tech company, suspect Liang(male, born 1980)- high-tech system integrator, suspect Chang (male, born 1986) – website engineer, suspect Zhong (male, born 1984), suspect Chen (female, born 1989), suspect Lin (male, born 1977), suspect Chen (male, born 1993), suspect Hsu (male, born 1988)-accountant.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
五、
\r\nStolen Property and Evidence: Searched and seized 3 sets of desktop computers, 36 mobile phones, 10 laptops, 1 TabletPC, NTD1.18 million in cash, 2.16 PCs of Bitcoin (worth approximately NTD7.43 million), 33,525 Tether (USDT) (worth approximately NTD1,005,750).
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
(一)
\r\nThe Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) cracked the location of a computer room in one community building in the Tucheng District of New Taipei City in April 2024. This computer room set up websites of fake investment platforms, named “TIFFIN,” “arbutuse.com,” and “FORTRESS,” to lure the public with investment. The task force expanded the investigation through 165 Anti-fraud Hotline and discovered that the aforementioned platforms subscribed to website domains from U.S. Domain Company. The CIB then requested Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) for collaboration in the investigation.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
(二)
\r\nHSI helped to retrieve the registration information and IP login records in addition to integrating analysis on Cryptocurrency flow. Investigation showed that one tech company and one creative limited company were the sources of technical support for the fraud platforms. The financier, suspect Wu, contributed capital and established the company, with suspect Huang, who had a technical background, serving as its legal representative. In addition, system integrator Liang was in charge of undertaking the website production and requirements for scam computer rooms in Cambodia and in Taiwan. Engineers Chang, Zhong, Chen, Lin, and Chen were instructed by the owner to divide the labor and develop massive fraud websites. In 2024, a total of 700 fraud websites were established, drawing approximately 300 Taiwanese into scams, with an estimated NTD100 million in fraud.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
(三)
\r\nThe task force executed three search actions in January, April and May 2025, investigating and apprehending financier Wu, owner Huang, system integrator Liang, and engineers Chang, Zhong, Chen, Lin, Chen, and company accountant Hsu. Moreover, the task force seized illicit proceeds of NTD1.18 million, 2.16 PCS of bitcoin (worth approximately NTD7.43 million), and 33,525 Tether (USDT) (worth approximately NTD1,005,750). In particular, financier Wu, system integrator Liang, and five engineers, including Chang, Zhong, and Chen, were ruled by Taiwan New Taipei District Court for detention and prohibition of communication and visitation.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
七、
\r\nThe Criminal Investigation Bureau continued to strengthen its technological investigation competence by integrating digital forensics and cryptocurrency flow tracing technology, proactively investigating various fraud-related crimes, protecting the property safety of the public, and eradicating any rampant criminal syndicates. The Criminal Investigation Bureau calls for personnel with technological professional skills not to establish fake investment platforms customized for fraud syndicates, code or provide technical support in the interest of money, or else they could engage in fraud-related crimes and be held criminally liable. Practitioners should be vigilant, refuse illegal commissions, and do not let their profession become a tool for crime. Moreover, in the midst of increasing rampant and highly cross-border fraud patterns, the Criminal Investigation Bureau will continue to develop an international collaboration mechanism and maintain close communication with law enforcement agencies of all countries, voluntarily exchange intelligence, share technological investigation resources, and combat against cross-border fraudulent industrial chains jointly, thereby comprehensively tracing the origins of offshore frauds and curbing the expansion and spread of criminal activities.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
一、
\r\nInvestigating Departments:
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
(一)
\r\nTaiwan：\r\n\r\n
\r\n\t- Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Thailand
\r\n\t- Criminal Investigation Bureau, National Police Agency
\r\n\t- Ministry of the Interior, and Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Justice
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
(二)
\r\nThailand：Foreign Affairs Bureau and Immigration Bureau of the Royal Thai Police
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
二、
\r\nThailand：Foreign Affairs Bureau and Immigration Bureau of the Royal Thai Police
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
三、
\r\nLocation of Arrest：Bangkok, Thailand
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
四、
\r\nSuspect：Huang ○○ (male, born in 1982)
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
五、
\r\nWanted for：Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (to be incarcerated for 10 years and 6 months) and assault
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
(一)
\r\nCriminal Investigation Bureau Liaison Office in Thailand (hereinafter referred to as the “Liaison Office in Thailand”) received a report from Thai Immigration Bureau stating that a passenger was attempting to enter Thailand on a flight from Cambodia with a suspected forged Taiwanese passport.The Liaison Office in Thailand immediately notified the International Criminal Affairs Division of the Criminal Investigation Bureau. The passenger’s true identity was confirmed to be a Taiwanese drug offender, Huang, through data verification and comparison. Huang had sent a parcel containing approximately 3 kilograms of ketamine from Thailand to Taiwan in 2020 and 2021.In order to prevent Huang from being released on bail, the Liaison Office in Thailand promptly compiled evidence of his involvement in the crime and submitted an official letter to the Thai Immigration Bureau, requesting that the case be reported to the Thai court to seek Huang’s detention based on the evidence provided.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
(二)
\r\nThe Liaison Office in Thailand continued to work with the Consular Affairs Office of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Thailand to examine the forged and altered passports held by Huang, confirming that the documents had been fabricated by replacing the original information in genuine passports belonging to others.Huang’s purpose for entering Thailand on this occasion was to collect an approved Elite Visa. Fortunately, through close cooperation between police in Taiwan and Thailand, Huang was successfully intercepted and identified as a drug offender wanted in Taiwan. uang had previously been sentenced to 10 years and 6 months of imprisonment after three trials for a major drug trafficking offense. His illegal entry into Thailand this time also constituted a violation of the National Security Act. In response, the Criminal Investigation Bureau submitted a request to the Taipei District Prosecutors Office to issue a wanted notice for Huang.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
(三)
\r\nHuang was serving a sentence in Thailand for committing a crime involving the use of a forged passport. He completed his sentence in May 2025. After coordination with the Thai police, it is planned to have “Huang” escorted back to Taiwan to face justice by the Criminal Investigation Bureau’s police liaison officer and the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau’s legal liaison officer, both stationed in Thailand, jointly on the afternoon of June 12.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
(四)
\r\nThe Criminal Investigation Bureau emphasized that the law enforcement personnel of Taiwan and Thailand had demonstrated a profound understanding and cross-border cooperation in this case. Through international collaboration, we successfully arrested and repatriated fugitives who attempted to evade judicial prosecution in Taiwan by fleeing abroad. This operation highlights the determination of Taiwanese police to enforce the law and combat crime. Moving forward, Taiwan police will continue to deepen bilateral police-government cooperation, intensify efforts against transnational drug crimes, and work to maintain social order and public safety in both countries.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
一、
\r\nCommanding Unit: Taiwan Taipei District Prosecutors Office (Section Zhi).
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
二、
\r\nInvestigative Units:\r\n\r\n
\r\n\t- International Criminal Affairs Division (First Investigation Squadron), Criminal Investigation Bureau
\r\n\t- Liaison Office in Japan, Criminal Investigation Bureau
\r\n\t- Criminal Investigation Corps, Taipei City Police Department
\r\n\t- Beitou Precinct, Taipei City Police Department
\r\n\t- Criminal Investigation Corps, Taitung County Police Bureau
\r\n\t- Taipei Branch, Aviation Police Bureau
\r\n\t- Criminal Investigation Police Brigade, Aviation Police Bureau
\r\n\t- Fourth Precinct, Taichung City Police Department
\r\n\t- Fengyuan Precinct, Taichung City Police Department
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
三、
\r\nDates of Seizure: March 7, March 8, and May 28, 2025.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
四、
\r\nLocations of Seizure: Taipei Songshan Airport, Taoyuan International Airport, Taipei City, Taitung County, and Taichung City.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
五、
\r\nSuspects Apprehended: 7 in Total.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
(一)
\r\n4 Suspects of Japanese Nationality: Noguchi ○○ (born in 1976), Fukamachi ○○ (born in 1962), Oku ○○ (born in 1977), and Oshima ○○ (born in 1981).
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
(二)
\r\n3 Suspects of Taiwanese Nationality: Hsia ○○ (born in 1998), Shih ○○ (born in 1999), and Chin ○○ (born in 1997).
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
六、
\r\nStolen Property and Evidence:
\r\nA total of approximately 2 kilograms of Schedule II narcotic (methamphetamine), 10 gift boxes (16 packs in total) containing drug-concealed food seasoning packets, and 14 mobile phones and tablet devices related to the case were seized.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
(一)
\r\nThe Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) has maintained ongoing communication with the Japanese police on intelligence on drug-related crimes and organized criminal groups. In 2023, the CIB detected frequent visits to Taiwan by specific gang members from Japan. Upon confirming the suspects’ identities, CIB conducted an in-depth investigation and discovered that they had only stayed in Taiwan for a short period, but their activities significantly differed from those of regular tourists. Investigation showed that the syndicate planned to transport drugs from Taiwan to Japan, seeking to profit substantially from the price disparity between the two countries.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
(二)
\r\nThe CIB and the aforementioned investigative units formed a project team in a joint co-investigation of this case, which was reported to Taiwan Taipei Prosecutors Office as the commanding unit. After extensive surveillance and investigation, it was discovered that the Japanese drug trafficking organization members entered Taiwan separately in early March 2025. The project team apprehended Japanese suspects Noguchi and Fukamachi at Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei City Zhongshan District on March 7, 2025.On the next day (March 8), the team successfully intercepted Japanese suspects Oku and Oshima at Taipei Songshan Airport, preventing them from smuggling drugs out of Taiwan. Ten gift boxes were confiscated from the check-in luggage at the scene,containing Schedule II narcotic methamphetamine hidden in 16 packs of meal kits packets, with a total gross weight of approximately 2 kilograms.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
(三)
\r\nThe project team continued to trace the source and found that, after Japanese gang members Noguchi and Fukamachi arrived in Taiwan, they went to the Taitung region to collected the drugs. Through further investigation, 3 Taiwanese suspects active in the Taitung area— Xia (reportedly affiliated with gangs), Shi, and Qin—were identified as local accomplices responsible for managing the drug supply for the trafficking syndicates. On May 28, 2025, the suspects were apprehended in Taitung County and Taichung City. Except for the Taiwanese suspect Qin, the remaining 6 suspects were all detained and held incommunicado by Taiwan Taipei District Court. Taiwan Taipei District Prosecutors Office also indicted the 7 suspects for violations of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act on July 1, 2025.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
(四)
\r\nThe retail price of illicit drugs on the black market in Japan remains exceptionally high. In this case, the criminal syndicate was composed of gang members operating in both Taiwan and Japan, with a sophisticated division of responsibilities across borders. It was through the diligent and sustained efforts of the joint investigative task force—marked by close and consistent intelligence sharing between law enforcement agencies in Taiwan and Japan, as well as multi-layered surveillance and tracking—that the transnational drug trafficking operation was successfully dismantled and the syndicate’s financial network effectively disrupted. In pursuit of the mission and vision of “Preventing Drug Trafficking Overseas,” “Intercepting Drugs at Entry Points,” and “Combating Drugs Within the Territory,” the CIB will continue to deepen its collaboration with international law enforcement partners to ensure the effectiveness and sustainability of joint anti-narcotics efforts.
\r\n
\r\n
In recent years, numerous reports have surfaced detailing how Taiwanese nationals seeking employment in Thailand have been deceitfully lured and transported by human trafficking rings to scam compounds in Myanmar. There, they are forced to engage in illegal activities such as telecommunications fraud. Those who disobey face severe consequences, including violence, coercion, and unlawful detention, constituting grave violations of their personal freedom.
\r\n
\r\n President Lai Ching-te addressed this urgent issue in early 2025, expressing deep concern for Taiwanese citizens being defrauded and trapped overseas. Interior Minister Liu Shyh-Fang convened an inter-ministerial meeting in February of the same year, emphasizing the principle of "national safety first." Minister Liu directed all relevant agencies to strengthen collaboration through cross-departmental communication mechanisms and immediately initiate rescue operations, with the full commitment to safeguarding the safety and human rights of Taiwanese citizens.
\r\n
\r\n The Myanmar government has taken steps to raid fraud syndicates within its territory under increasing international pressure. The relevant agencies in Taiwan also launched inter-ministerial collaboration in late February 2025.The National Police Agency, under the Ministry of the Interior, with the assistance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dispatched personnel to Thailand and Myanmar to assess the situation and conduct investigations into cross-border telecommunications fraud and human trafficking cases. Through close cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the overseas missions, our dispatched personnel were able to bring back 55 suspects involved in fraud operations and those nationals affected by human trafficking.
\r\n
\r\n Since the rescue operations involved diplomatic negotiation and judicial investigations upon their return, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Justice, and the National Police Agency of the Ministry of the Interior collaborated closely.Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Thailand arranged transportation to Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, from where the 55 nationals boarded a flight for a safe return to Taiwan. Subsequently, the National Police Agency will conduct investigations into potential human trafficking offenses.Based on the evidence in each case, individuals will be referred to the Taiwan Taipei District Prosecutors Office and the Taiwan Shilin District Prosecutors Office for further investigation. In particular, Among the returnees 25 people were involved in other criminal cases wanted by Taiwanese judicial authorities.For other criminal offenses and will be processed according to legal procedures, with investigations to determine any involvement in other illegal activities.
\r\n
\r\n In recent years, fraud syndicates often use fraud talks such as “high salary, low requirement, and short-term overseas work” on social networking platforms to propagate false recruiting advertisement (such as purchasing amulets and boutique, gold trafficking, applying for dummy accounts, or earning commissions for loan applications) In reality, these schemes are designed to lure individuals abroad and traffic them to scam compounds for illegal activities. In the fight against human trafficking operation, the National Police Agency under the Ministry of the Interior has significantly intensified its investigation and crackdown efforts since the beginning of this year, aiming to prevent similar cases from occurring. The major outcome of the recent raiding of such unlawful actions is summarized as follows:
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
一、
\r\nThe syndicate of 3 suspects, including Huang, was tracked down for recruiting victims through gold trafficking and application for loans, with 2 suspects detained (Criminal Investigation Bureau, International Criminal Affairs Division)..
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
二、
\r\nThe syndicate of 4 suspects, including Zhu, was tracked down for recruiting victims through high salary offers for cryptocurrency work, with 1 suspect detained (Criminal Investigation Bureau, Second Investigation Corps).
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
三、
\r\nThe syndicate of 5 suspects, including Zhu, was tracked down for recruiting victims through working in the overseas casino and applying for accounts from foreign banks (Criminal Investigation Bureau, Sixth Investigation Corps).
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
The National Police Agency reiterates its call for Taiwanese citizens to exercise heightened vigilance and refrain from readily believing online job postings or high-salary positions in Southeast Asia recommended by unfamiliar individuals. The nationals should proactively verify the authenticity of the job offer and avoid falling into the trap of job seeking.Anyone with doubts or concerns can call the 165 Anti-Fraud Hotline or visit the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website for “Information on Overseas Traps Section.” This section compiles information on related cases and provides the emergency contact numbers for all Taipei Representative Offices overseas and the numbers of emergency contact centers in Taiwan (0800-085-095) to help citizens obtain necessary assistance promptly.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
一、
\r\nInvestigating Departments:
\r\nTaiwan New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, International Criminal Affairs Division of Criminal Investigation Bureau, New Taipei City Police Department- Yonghe Precinct, Taipei City Police Department - Criminal Investigation Division, Taoyuan Police Department – Pingzhen Precinct, First Precinct of Chiayi City Police Bureau
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
二、
\r\n
\r\nTime of Seizure: April 8, 2024, April 18, 2024, August 19, 2024
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
三、
\r\nLocation of Seizure: New Taipei City, Chiayi City
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
四、
\r\nThe apprehended suspects include:
\r\nSun XX (suspected to be the key financial backer of the cryptocurrency exchange), Cheng XX (alleged operator of the exchange), Wang XX (employee of the exchange), Wang XX (alleged operator of the virtual currency money laundering operation), Lin XX (suspected money launderer dealing in cryptocurrency), Chiang XX (alleged financial backer of the scam call center), Lo XX (alleged scam call center operative), and 13 others.
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
五、
\r\nSpoils and evidence seized Evidence and Illicit Items Seized:
\r\n(一)Authorities searched and seized the following items: 9 desktop computers, 26 mobile phones, 2 laptops, 3 tablet, NT$ 1.16 million in cash (New Taiwan Dollars), 3 WIFI routers, and 3,465 USDT (Tether).
\r\n(二)Seizure Orders Approved:\r\n
\r\n\t- Real Estate: NT$15 million property seized from Chiang XX, alleged financial backer of the scam call center.
\r\n\t- Cryptocurrency: 634,450 USDT (Tether), valued at approximately NT$20.41 million, frozen in wallet of Sun XX, suspected key financial backer of the exchange.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
六、
\r\nCase Summary:
\r\n(一)In December 2023, the Criminal Investigation Bureau, in collaboration with the US Homeland Security Investigations, successfully dismantled a fraud operation involving engineers, system vendors, and advertising companies. Through comprehensive financial and digital intelligence tracking, authorities further uncovered a cryptocurrency exchange and fraudulent call centers connected to the operation.The investigation resulted in the arrest of 13 suspects, with 7 individuals remanded in custody by court order. Law enforcement seized over NT$36 million (approximately US$1.15 million) in illegal proceeds, including real estate properties and cryptocurrency assets.This operation effectively severed the entire fraud group's industrial chain, demonstrating significant results in the ongoing fight against organized fraud schemes.
\r\n(二)Cracking Cryptocurrency Exchange:\r\n
\r\n\t- Analysis of cryptocurrency transactions revealed the fraud group was collaborating with a cryptocurrency exchange for money laundering operations. Investigators discovered that while the exchange maintained physical premises, it operated without legally required licenses or permits.The exchange used motorcycle repair shops and temples as fronts for its actual operations—serving as money laundering and transaction points. The Criminal Investigation Bureau conducted two major enforcement operations in April and August 2024, confirming the cryptocurrency exchange's involvement in multiple fake investment fraud cases with total financial damages exceeding NT$40 million (approximately US$1.28 million).
\r\n\t- Further investigation identified the exchange's owner, Mr. Sun (full name withheld), as having ties to organized crime. Sun operated a physical cryptocurrency shop in Zhonghe District, New Taipei City, which specifically collaborated with fraud groups.When fraud victims followed instructions from scammers to purchase cryptocurrency at Sun's establishment, Sun would direct his team members to use the fraudulently obtained funds to purchase cryptocurrency at low prices through legitimate channels. These funds would then be laundered through multiple cryptocurrency wallet layers before being sold to fraud victims at inflated prices, allowing the operation to profit significantly from the price differences in these cryptocurrency transactions.
\r\n\t- The operation led to the arrest of nine individuals, including the cryptocurrency shop owner Mr. Sun and his associates Mr. Wang and Mr. Lin (full names withheld), who operated as cryptocurrency dealers under his direction. Of those arrested, five suspects were remanded in custody by court order.Authorities seized illegal proceeds including NT$1.16 million in cash and 3,465 USDT (Tether)(approximately NT$113,652 or US$3,644) during the operation.
\r\n
\r\n(三)Cracking Fraud Call Centers:\r\n\r\n
\r\n\t- In addition to intercepting the financial flows of the fraud operation, investigators traced fraudulent websites to a server room located in a community building in Tucheng District, New Taipei City. The server operation was run by Mr. Jiang (full name withheld), who also has connections to organized crime.Jiang recruited three associates, including Mr. Lo (full name withheld), who engaged potential victims through cold calls and Facebook community groups. The team would establish rapport with targets before strategically sending them links to fraudulent investment platforms such as "TIFFIN," "arbutuse.com," and "FORTRESS," encouraging individuals to invest their money on these fake platforms.
\r\n\t- In April 2024, authorities executed a raid operation that uncovered the fraudulent call center's involvement in multiple fake investment fraud cases with total financial damages exceeding NT$3 million (approximately US$96,000). The operation led to the arrest of four individuals, including the call center owner Mr. Jiang and his subordinate operator Mr. Lo (full names withheld).Two of the suspects were remanded in custody by court order. Authorities seized one real estate property owned by Jiang, valued at approximately NT$15 million (approximately US$481,000).
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
七、
\r\nThe Criminal Investigation Bureau continues to strengthen its technological investigation capabilities, utilizing digital forensics and cryptocurrency flow analysis techniques to combat fraud crimes, protect citizens' financial security, and eliminate illegal operations.Authorities caution that fraud groups commonly use fake investment schemes to deceive victims, directing them to seemingly legitimate exchanges for cryptocurrency purchases, which are then transferred to shell wallets controlled by the criminal groups to facilitate money laundering.Anyone with concerns is encouraged to verify legitimate registered businesses through the Financial Supervisory Commission's Securities and Futures Bureau official website (https://www.sfb.gov.tw/ch/home.jsp?id=1053&parentpath=0,8) or call the 165 Anti-Fraud Hotline for consultation.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
一、
\r\nInvestigating Department: Taiwan Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office (Section “Jin”), The 2nd Brigade of International Criminal Affairs Division of Criminal Investigation Bureau, Dayuan Precinct of Taoyuan Police Department, Zhongli Precinct of Taoyuan Police Department, and Shilin Precinct of Taipei City Police Department.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
二、
\r\nTime of Seizure: January 16, 2025.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
三、
\r\nLocation of Seizure: Taoyuan District, Taoyuan City and Tucheng District, New Taipei CityLocation of Seizure: Taoyuan District, Taoyuan City and Tucheng District, New Taipei City
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
四、
\r\nSuspect Arrested: Suspect Lin (male, born in 1987) and the other 5 suspects.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
五、
\r\nSpoils and evidence seized:
\r\n
(一) Illegal cash proceedIllegal cash proceeds seized:s seized:\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
1.
\r\nNT$2.08 million.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
2.
\r\nForeign currency (Japanese yen and Indonesian rupiah, equivalent to NT$35,000).
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
3.
\r\nMore than 136,000 Tether coins and Tron coins (equivalent to NT$4.5 million)
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
(二)
\r\nSeized drugs: Marijuana products (gross weight 205 grams).
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
(三)
\r\nSeized criminal tools:
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
1.
\r\n44 mobile phones
\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
(一)
\r\nThe Criminal Investigation Bureau, after analyzing relevant data, discovered a residence in Taoyuan District, Taoyuan City allegedly involved in money laundering for a telecommunications fraud operation. The case was referred to the Taiwan Taoyuan District Prosecutor's Office, which authorized the investigation. Following sufficient evidence gathering, search warrants were executed at both the operation site and suspects' residences, resulting in the arrest of six individuals, including the primary suspect surnamed Lin.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
(二)
\r\nExamination of seized evidence revealed that the operation ran a fraudulent luxury goods purchasing platform to attract investors who provided their financial accounts. These accounts were then matched with money laundering needs of criminal organizations by creating fake luxury goods purchase orders on the platform. Proceeds from gambling and fraud operations were deposited into these civilian accounts disguised as investment returns. The initial legitimate funds invested by victims were used to purchase Tether cryptocurrency, with the operation taking substantial commissions. The laundered funds were ultimately returned to gambling and fraud syndicates, completing the money laundering cycle. Investigations found that the operation processed over 100 million Chinese yuan (RMB) in just six months. Authorities are currently expanding their investigation to identify additional fraud victims. Following police interrogation, the suspects were transferred to the Taiwan Taoyuan District Prosecutor's Office on charges of fraud, violations of the Money Laundering Control Act, and the Organized Crime Prevention Act.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
(三)
\r\nThe Legislative Yuan recently passed the "Four New Anti-Fraud Laws" in its third reading. The Executive Yuan has implemented the "New Generation Anti-Fraud Strategy Action Plan 2.0" in 2025, focusing on three key areas: "strengthening anti-fraud measures, combating fraud groups, and protecting crime victims." The Criminal Investigation Bureau urges the public to invest through legal and legitimate channels to earn reasonable profits, emphasizing that high returns inevitably come with high risks. Offers promising "guaranteed profits" or "risk-free earnings" are invariably scams and should be carefully evaluated. Those who receive suspicious calls or messages are encouraged to contact the National Police Agency's 165 anti-fraud hotline for verification. The Criminal Investigation Bureau pledges to continue its crackdown on all types of criminal activity to ensure a safe and secure living environment for the public.
\r\n
\r\n
一、Investigating Departments:
\r\n\r\n
(一)Taiwan: Taiwan Ciaotou District Prosecutors Office, Criminal Investigation Bureau, Taipei Representative Office in the Republic of Singapore, Criminal Investigation Brigade of Kaohsiung City Police Department Criminal Investigation Corps, Nangang Precinct, Taipei City Police Department, Criminal Investigation Brigade of Pingtung County Government Police Department Criminal Investigation Corps, Criminal Investigation Brigade of Penghu County Government Police Department Criminal Investigation Corps.
\r\n(二)Singapore: Criminal Investigation Department of Singapore Police Force (CID), Commercial Affairs Department (CAD).
\r\n(三)Malaysia: The Commercial Crime Investigation Department of Royal Malaysian Police (CCID-RMP).
\r\n\r\n
\r\n二、Date of Seizure: May 15, 2024 (arrested in Taiwan), June 12 ,2024(arrested in Malaysia).
\r\n
\r\n三、Location of Seizure: New Taipei City, Kaohsiung City, Pingtung County, and Penghu County of Taiwan, and Penang of Malaysia.
\r\n
\r\n四、Suspects Arrested:Taiwanese nationals: Tsai (male, 44 years old), Hsieh (male, 30 years old), Wu (male, 33 years old), and Chen (female, 22 years old); Malaysian nationals: CHEOH (male, 48 years old) and LAU (male, 27 years old).
\r\n\r\n
\r\n五、Assets and evidence seized: Cryptocurrencies valued at approximately NTD151,755 (3,794 tokens of Tether, 5,206 tokens of Dogecoin, 1,293 tokens of TRX), backup phrases to cryptocurrency wallet, foreign currencies of various countries, mobile phones, computer equipment and other related evidence. Additionally, a court order was obtained from the Taiwan Ciaotou District Court to freeze financial accounts and real estate properties associated with the case, totaling approximately NT$43.01 million.
\r\n
\r\n六、Case Summary:
\r\n\r\n
(一)The Singapore Police Force received a report from Singapore public that some unknown suspects induced non-specific Singapore victims to download APK software containing remote access trojans onto their mobile phones. Subsequently, the victims discovered that the money in their online banking accounts had been completely transferred without authorization. During 2023, and the total number of victims reached 1,899 people. The total amount of financial loss was about NTD784.3 million (SGD 34.1 million).
\r\n\r\n
(二)The Criminal Investigation Bureau reported and requested Taiwan Ciaotou District Prosecutors Office Head Prosecutor Chang-Xia Hsieh and Section Yue Prosecutor Zi-Chun Zhou in March 2024 to conduct the investigation on the case of suspects Tsai and others involved in fraud, offenses against computer security, and money laundering. A joint task force was established with the police from Singapore and Malaysia to conduct an extensive investigation. Taiwanese nationals Tsai ○○, Hsieh ○○, Wu ○○, and Chen ○○ were identified as primary suspects. Search warrants were issued and executed in 8 locations including New Taipei City, Kaohsiung City, and Penghu County on May 15, 2024, apprehending a total of 4 suspects including Tsai and three others.
\r\n\r\n
(三)Further investigation reveals that main suspect Li commanded Tsai and others from overseas to establish the computer base of remote access Trojan malware (SpyMax type) system in Taiwan. The remote access trojan was customized and packaged for false advertising to attract potential victims. Once victims successfully downloaded the mobile Trojan, the suspects manipulated the victims' phones to transfer funds from their online banking accounts to other accounts. The amount transferred from the accounts was then converted to virtual currencies for the division of spoils.
\r\n\r\n
(四)The Criminal Investigation Bureau and police departments from Singapore and Malaysia were determined to fight against crimes. They overcame various difficulties and collaborated beyond the borders to fight against technology -enabled fraud and money-laundering-related crimes. This marks the first instance of trilateral police cooperation among Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia in fighting crime. It demonstrates a strong determination of police cross-border collaboration in law enforcement and combat against crimes. The Criminal Investigation Bureau will continue to collaborate with police departments from various countries to combat transnational crime. We also take this opportunity to warn potential offenders that police forces worldwide are united in fighting crime regardless of national boundaries, and they should not harbor any false hopes of evading justice.
\r\n
\r\n
一、Command Department: Taiwan Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office
\r\n\r\n
二、Investigating Department: National Police Agency of Japan, First Brigade of International Criminal Affairs Division of Criminal Investigation Bureau, Xinxing Precinct of Kaohsiung City Police Department, Pingzhen Precinct of Taoyuan City Police Department, and Taitung Precinct of Taitung County Police Bureau.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n三、Time of Seizure: July 1, 2023, January 17, 2024, January 24 to January 25, 2024, March 19, 2024.
\r\n
\r\n四、Location of Seizure: Kagawa Prefecture, Osaka Prefecture in Japan, Xiaogang District, Kaohsiung City, Taitung City of Taitung County, and other locations.
\r\n
\r\n五、Suspects Apprehended:
\r\n\r\n
\r\n\t- Apprehended from Taiwan: Main suspect Chen (born in 1997, with a gangster background) and other 5 suspects.
\r\n\t- Apprehended from Japan: Money mule Huang (born in 1999) and other 5 suspects. Evidence and incidents have been investigated.
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
六、Seized Evidence:
\r\n\r\n
Evidence includes NTD330,000 in cash, 2 wireless hubs, 59 mobile phones, 7 international SIM cards, 2 packets of ketamine, 2 non-standard handguns, 4 magazines, 11 bullets and other evidence.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n七、Case Summary:
\r\n\r\n
\r\n\t- Japan is one of the most popular overseas tourism destinations for Taiwanese, and the number of visitors to Japan has increased annually in recent years. However, some criminals have taken the opportunity to blend in, recruiting young people from southern and eastern Taiwan to join fraud and money laundering syndicates. Those recruited are then dispatched to Japan, where they follow the syndicate leaders' instructions during their stay. The money mules pose as fake police officers, deceiving and collecting ATM cards, bank passbooks, or even cash directly from elderly victims all over Japan. These criminals have collected substantial amounts of illicit money, causing the victims to lose their life savings.
\r\n\t- To curb the aforementioned circumstance and trace the head of the syndicate in Taiwan, the International Criminal Affairs Division of the Criminal Investigation Bureau and the liaison unit stationed in Japan actively exchanged intelligence with Japanese police. They subsequently reported the case to Prosecutor Li Yu-Tzu of the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office in Taiwan, who took command of the investigation. After a lengthy and meticulous investigation, analyzing related cases from the same period for criminal modus operandi, networks, and other associated characteristics, between January 24 and 25, 2024, the first wave of raids was conducted targeting the syndicate's bases in Xiaokang District of Kaohsiung City and other relevant locations. The operation successfully apprehended the key suspect Chen and two others, seizing over 50 work mobile phones, 2 non-standard handguns, 4 magazines, 11 bullets, and other crucial evidence. Due to risk of flight, collusion and destruction of evidence, the prosecutor applied for the detentions of the three suspects, which were granted by the Kaohsiung District Court.
\r\n\t- After analyzing the seized evidence, the task force conducted a second wave of searches on March 19, 2024 in Taitung City, Taitung County, expanding the arrests to include two more syndicate leaders, suspects Xie and Guo. The leader surnamed Xie was also ordered to be detained. In May 2024, the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office in Taiwan indicted the main suspect surnamed Chen who was arrested in Taiwan, along with four other syndicate members, on charges including violating the Organized Crime Prevention Act, fraud, and money laundering laws. Together with the five syndicate money mules arrested across various locations in Japan, this joint operation successfully dismantled the transnational fraud and money laundering syndicate.
\r\n\t- The syndicate dispatched money mules to intensively withdraw funds within a short period of 1 to 2 months during their stay in Japan, before immediately leaving the country and returning to Taiwan. By the time victims realized they had been defrauded and reported the cases, it had already become difficult to track down the culprits. Fortunately, through the collaboration between Taiwanese and Japanese police, such special criminal tactics were curbed, helping to maintain Taiwan's international image. Furthermore, efforts will continue to investigate and review potential victim data related to the case in order to notify Japanese authorities to intercept or look into the victimization. This joint action aims to prevent financial losses, protect public safety, and combat transnational fraud and money laundering crimes.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
一、Investigation Division:Taiwan Yilan District Prosecutors Office、International Criminal Affairs Division、Yilan County Government Police Bureau Criminal Investigation Division
\r\n\r\n
二、Co-organizer: Bureau of Consular Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Repubic of China(Taiwan)
\r\n三、Seizure dates: March 6, 113, and March 20, 113
\r\n四、Seized locations: Various locations in Yilan County
\r\n五、Nine suspects were apprehended, including: Zheng OOOO (female, born 1967), Lai OOOO (male, born 1983), Shen OOOO (male, born 1974), and Lin OOOO (male, born 1989)
\r\n六、Confiscated 10 mobile phones, 3 international express mail packages, and other incriminating evidence.
\r\n七、Case Summary: ：
\r\n\r\n
\r\n\t- In September 2023, the Criminal Investigation Bureau's International Criminal Police Division received a notification from law enforcement agencies in Europe indicating that nearly 50 Taiwanese passports had been discovered being used by unidentified Chinese nationals to enter and exit Europe. The agencies suspected that a transnational human trafficking ring was exploiting the visa-free entry privileges granted to Taiwanese passport holders in over 110 countries worldwide. This ring was engaged in forging or misusing Taiwanese passports to conceal the true identities of individuals for illegal entry. In addition to compromising border security in various countries, the motives of these individuals using illegally obtained Taiwanese passports to enter Europe may also be linked to national security concerns. These actions not only damage Taiwan's long-established reputation as a quality global citizen but also create security vulnerabilities for countries subjected to such illegal entry using Taiwanese passports.
\r\n\t- The case was referred to the Chief Prosecutor of the Taiwan Yilan District Prosecutors Office, Chen Yilong, for investigation and prosecution. A special task force was formed by the Criminal Investigation Bureau's International Criminal Affairs Police Division, Yilan County Government Police Bureau Criminal Investigation Division, and the Bureau of Consular Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In March 2024, the task force cracked down on a transnational organized crime group operating in Yilan, arresting four domestic group members suspected of violating the "Organized Crime Prevention Act" and the "Passport Act." The group colluded with suspects in mainland China and, under their instructions, purchased passports from multiple Taiwanese citizens through various means, including loans, debt repayment, and online social media advertisements. They obtained the passports at prices ranging from NT$7,000 to NT$10,000 per passport. They then photographed the passport pages and sent them to overseas accomplices via communication software. After confirming that there were suitable candidates for impersonation, they mailed the passports to Europe (Greece, Spain, Italy, Indonesia, etc.) according to the receiving addresses provided by the overseas suspects. The passports were then sold at high prices by overseas human trafficking rings to Chinese suspects for illegal entry and exit. The entire case was transferred to the local prosecutor's office for investigation and prosecution for violations of the Passport Act, the Organized Crime Prevention Act, and other laws. Two suspects, Zheng and Lai, were ordered detained by the court.
\r\n\t- In addition to severely damaging Taiwan's international reputation, this case also threatens the border security of countries where passports are misused, creating national security vulnerabilities. This case also represents the first time that Taiwanese law enforcement agencies have indicted a transnational organized crime group for violating the Passport Act and profiting from passport trafficking under Article 3(1) of the Organized Crime Prevention Act. The Criminal Investigation Bureau urges Taiwanese citizens not to break the law by buying and selling Taiwanese passports, which is a violation of the Passport Act and punishable by up to seven years in prison. Anyone who hands over their passport to another person or falsely reports it lost for impersonation can also be sentenced to up to seven years in prison and fined NT$700,000. The Criminal Investigation Bureau will continue to strengthen international intelligence exchange and cooperate with other countries to combat the illegal use of Taiwanese passports for travel.
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\t- Investigating Unit: CIB 9th Investigation Corps; Dajia Precinct, Taichung City Police Department; 4th Precinct, Tainan City Police Department.
\r\n\t- Date: January 31, 2023.
\r\n\t- Location: Tainan City.
\r\n\t- Suspect: Chen (Born 1995).
\r\n\t- Evidence: 1 mobile phone.
\r\n\t- Case summary:\r\n\t
\r\n\t\t- Investigations by the CIB 9th Investigation Corps revealed that a suspect surnamed Chen, who manages a system kitchen Facebook page, was involved in multiple cases of fraud from March to October 2022. Chen would post numerous photos of refurbished system kitchens to lure in victims and personally take measurements of their kitchens upon being contacted, leading many victims to be unsuspecting of him. However, victims would only realize that they had been scammed when Chen would vanish without a trace after being paid a deposit. These victims would later report Chen to police authorities, with the 9th Investigation Corps undertaking the investigation.
\r\n\t\t- Further investigations found that Chen had many years of experience in system kitchen services and was deeply familiar with its contract process. Chen would scam his victims by offering his company business card and his previous work to gain the trust of his victims.
\r\n\t\t- After reviewing available information and assisted by information provided by the victims, the CIB 9th Investigation Corps managed to gain knowledge of Chen’s whereabouts and received approval from the Taiwan Hsinchu District Prosecutors Office for an arrest warrant. On January 31, 2023, the CIB 9th Investigation Corps; Dajia Precinct, Taichung City Police Department; and 4th Precinct, Tainan City Police Department arrested Chen and seized the mobile phone that he used to commit fraud. In all, Chen was responsible for 25 victims and a financial loss of up to NTD1.33 million in total. The Taiwan Hsinchu District Prosecutors Office is now preparing a fraud case against Chen.
\r\n\t\t- When looking for renovation companies online, the CIB would like to kindly everyone the importance of checking the company’s previous work as well as ensuring clear communication beforehand. In addition to paying close attention to the contract, fraud can be avoided by proper review and payment in accordance with each stage. If you have any suspicions or questions, please call the Anti-Fraud Hotline “165”.
\r\n\t
\r\n\t \r\n
\r\n
\r\n\t- Investigating unit: Taiwan Taipei District Prosecutors Office (Section Zhi), CIB 3rd Investigation Corps (3rd Team), Taipei City Police Department Zhongshan Precinct, Taiyuan Police Department Zhongli Precinct.
\r\n\t- Time: November 3 and 24, 2023
\r\n\t- Location: Taoyuan City
\r\n\t- Suspects: Chen (Male, born 1990), Huang (Male, born 1987); 2 suspects in total.
\r\n\t- Evidence: A gross weight of 2858.5g of MDMA ecstasy pills (Schedule 2 drugs), a gross weight of 7.5g of Ketamine (Schedule 3 drugs) and 4 mobile phones.
\r\n\t- Case summary:\r\n\t
\r\n\t\t- The 3rd Investigation Corps received intelligence that drugs were being smuggled in an international express package that was listed as a “vacuum cleaner”. In coordination with the Customs, they managed to uncover Schedule 2 drugs – MDMA (Ecstasy) hidden within a vacuum clear. 2 bags of MDMA (Ecstasy) were found in total, totaling 2858.5g; and 7.5g of the Schedule 3 drug – Ketamine was also found as well. The CIB 3rd Investigation Corps. The 3rd Investigation Corps proceeded to ask the Taiwan Taipei District Prosecutor’s Office to begin investigations.
\r\n\t\t- After days of collecting evidence, the team managed to find the recipient of the package of drugs, a Vietnamese national surnamed Chen, proceeding to take action when the time was ripe. On November 3, 2022, Chen was apprehended. On November 24, the main suspect orchestrating the drug smuggle, a Vietnamese national surnamed Huang was apprehended after further investigation. Investigations revealed that the drug smuggling group sent the package concealing drugs from Germany and were found to be in violation of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act. Investigations are now being conducted by the Taiwan Taipei District Prosecutors Office, who will seek to investigate the drug’s overseas sources.
\r\n\t\t- To achieve the second phase of the Executive Yuan’s “New Generation Anti-Drug Strategy”- eliminating drugs by “tracing drugs to the source, bringing appropriate justice to offenders and freezing the movement of illicit funds”. The CIB (Drug Enforcement Center) has been analyzing intelligence, integrating police forces, and cooperating with Customs Administration on drug enforcement. The CIB will continue to crack down on illegal organizations and drug trafficking groups, seeking to eliminate the problem by rooting out the source. The CIB will spare no effort in combating groups that manufacture, transport, and sell drugs, so that the citizens of this nation may live their lives peacefully and safely.
\r\n\t\t- The CIB is encouraging the public to report drugs. In accordance with the article 6 of The Reward and Punishment Regulations on Drug Prevention, a reward of up to NTD10 million is possible for reports on drugs and the identity of the informant will also be kept secret. To ensure the health of our countrymen and the stability of our country, CIB encourages everyone to report on illegal drug trafficking groups. The CIB report hotline: 02-27567252, 02-27673390.
\r\n\t
\r\n\t \r\n
","liaisonper":"","liaisontel":"","liaisonfax":"","liaisonemail":"","docs":[],"images":[],"videos":[],"audios":[],"resources":[]},{"subject":"Press Release from the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of the Interior(112-06-20)","dataClassName":"News Releases","pubUnitName":"Criminal Information Division","posterDate":"2023-07-20","updateDate":"2024-05-02","detailContent":"\r\n
Interdepartmental cooperation Vietnamese Crew Member Arrested For Murder News Data
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\t- Investigating unit: Taiwan Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office, Taipei Liaison Office in the Republic of South Africa, Fisheries Agency of the Council of Agriculture, Kaohsiung City Police Department Gushan Precinct, CIB International Criminal Affairs Division; and the 5th Offshore Flotilla, Fleet Branch, Coast Guard Administration, Ocean Affairs Council.
\r\n\t- Time: June 14, 2023
\r\n\t- Location: Cijin Pier, Kaohsiung Harbor
\r\n\t- Suspect: 1 (Surname: Chen) Vietnamese crew member
\r\n\t- Evidence: 1 knife, clothing worn during the murder, mobile phone, navigation log, and other relevant items.
\r\n\t- Case summary:\r\n\t
\r\n\t\t- the Kaohsiung-registered ocean fishing vessel Feng Kuo No.616, encountered a bloody incident when operating in the Indian Ocean’s international waters approximately 674 nautical miles southeast of Cape Town, South Africa, on April 28, 2023. In the accident, an Indonesian crew member was brutally murdered by a Vietnamese crew member. Upon receiving the report, the Fisheries Agency of the Council of Agriculture immediately held an interdepartmental meeting to resolve the matter. First, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) escorted the fishing vessel back to Taiwan. Following, with the cooperation with CIB International Criminal Affairs Division and the Kaohsiung City Police Department Gushan Precinct, they arrested the Vietnamese crew member, who had been locked in a cabin onboard the vessel.
\r\n\t\t- Although the incident occurred in international waters, this Taiwanese-flagged fishing vessel and all vessels and aircraft that belong to Taiwan are regarded as a part of an extension of our national territory As such, Taiwan possesses the jurisdiction and right to adjudicate this homicide case. In the aftermath of the crime, the CIB, CGA, and Kaohsiung City Police Department formed a joint task force and reported the case to Prosecutor Li You-zi of the Taiwan Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office to command the investigation.
\r\n\t\t- The Indonesian crew member was sorting out fish in the freezer when he was suddenly attacked by a Vietnamese crew member. The motives behind the attack remain unclear and require further investigation. When the captain of the vessel witnessed the Vietnamese suspect committing the crime and attempting to hide in the cargo hold, he immediately locked the compartment door. The captain then set course for Mauritius to seek assistance. However, the Mauritius authorities deemed the incident to have occurred in international waters and only agreed to let the vessel dock in Port Louis, providing only humanitarian assistance to the crew members but refused to investigate the case. The Liaison Officer stationed at the Taipei Liaison Office in the Republic of South Africa rushed to Mauritius upon being notified and and, with their consent, conducted preliminary investigations on board the vessel, consolidating relevant evidence. Unfortunately, the Vietnamese crew member refused to turn over the knife used in the murder. To ensure that investigations could proceed, the fishing vessel departed on its near month-long journey back to Taiwan on May 16. The shipping vessel was escorted by Wei-shin (CG102) and PP-10075 as it approached nearby waters and docked in at the 5th Offshore Flotilla’s wharf on June 14, where the joint task force boarded and arrested the Vietnamese crew member. In addition, forensics specialists from CIB also boarded the ship to collect trace evidence in an effort to reconstruct the crime scene. After further investigations by the prosecutor, the suspect was charged with a serious murder offense, and a detention request was granted by the court.
\r\n\t\t- This case is an exemplary demonstration of cross-departmental cooperation, successfully safeguarding the fishing vessel's return to Taiwan and bringing the Vietnamese murder suspect to justice. Crimes committed within the jurisdiction of Taiwan will be thoroughly investigated, regardless of nationality. This case reaffirms the determination and commitment of law enforcement agencies in Taiwan to fighting crime and safeguarding maritime safety.
\r\n\t
\r\n\t \r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
Police Bust a Taiwanese National Who Collaborated With Chinese Hackers to Breach the Databases of E-Commerce Platforms in Taiwan
\r\nUsing the Stolen Credit Card Information Worldwidely to Commit Fraud Crimes on E-Payment Apps and E-Commerce Websites
\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\t- Investigating unit: Taiwan New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, CIB International Criminal Affairs Division, Zhonghe Precinct and Tucheng Precinct of the New Taipei City Police Department; Guishan Precinct, Taoyuan Police Department; and the Taipei Military Police Corps.
\r\n\t- Investigating unit: Taiwan New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, CIB International Criminal Affairs Division, Zhonghe Precinct and Tucheng Precinct of the New Taipei City Police Department; Guishan Precinct, Taoyuan Police Department; and the Taipei Military Police Corps.
\r\n\t- Location: Taipei City, New Taipei City
\r\n\t- Suspects: 1 suspect surnamed Chen and 14 other suspects.
\r\n\t- Confiscation and evidence:
\r\n\t20 mobile phones and tablets, approximately NT$30,000 in cash, various luxury items, and clothing worn on the crime scene. \r\n\t- Case summary: The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) received reports from a renowned e-commerce platform that members with e-payment apps linked to their credit cards had fallen victims to credit card fraud. Knowing being victimized, many of them urgently reported the case to the platform and banks. An investigation carried out by a special task force resulted in an arrest of a mule who later led CIB to apprehend the main suspect, surnamed Chen. Further investigations confirmed that Chen had collaborated with Chinese hackers to instruct Taiwanese suspects in the recruitment of mules to carry out the credit card frauds. The details are as follows:\r\n\t
\r\n\t\t- From November to December in 2022, Chen and Chinese hackers breached the databases of e- commerce platforms in Taiwan, and illegally obtained members’ account passwords to gain access to e-payment apps. They then continued to instruct cash mules to carry out credit card fraud by purchasing essence of chicken gift boxes, fine wine, gold jewelry, PS5 gaming consoles, and other high valued items.Subsequently, they w sold those illicit products by purchasing with groups for profits.
\r\n\t\t- Chen had learned to set up a phishing website by researching online, and used it to illegally obtain credit card information of more than a million users from Japan, Canada, the US, and Thailand. From August to October 2022, Chen worked with Chinese hackers to commit credit card fraud by ordering cosmetics, perfume, Airpods, and other items from a well-known e-commerce platform in Taiwan. Afterwards, the mules would retrieve the goods and sell them elsewhere for profit. In the meantime, Chen was involved in using foreign credit cards to top up on a payment app before selling it to towing services companies in exchange for oil with lower price. During a police investigation in August 2022, Chen and an accomplice surnamed Hsieh were not prosecuted on the charges of instigating others to take the blame.
\r\n\t\t- In November 2022, together Chen and a Chinese hacked to use a loophole of renowned food delivery service platforms, where they would randomly fill in credit card numbers with fake identities and made purchases of products such as baby formulas and pricy gift boxes of cubilose. Afterwards they would sell them from online groups for a making profits.
\r\n\t
\r\n\t \r\n
\r\n Section Hong from the Taiwan New Taipei District Prosecutors Office led the investigation and carried out 6 search operations in the early of 2023. Chen and other 14 suspects were busted of assisting in the disposal of goods, recruiting mules, and theft of credit cards All of them were under investigation on the offences of involvement in fraudulent, against computer security, forgery, violation of the Money Laundering Control Act and the Organized Crime Prevention Act. Chen and 3 accomplices were detained by court of laws. As far as known,there are more than a hundred victims and the estimated loss is reached more than NT$3 million.The e-commerce platforms are still assessing the total loss.
\r\n This credit card fraud group alonged with hackers to interfere Taiwan’s financial orderness, profiting off credit card information stolen from victims across the world. Fortunately, justice managed to prevail and thanks to the task force’s efforts. The CIB sincerely reminds the public to make sure that they only download e-payment apps with a 3-D Secure protocol, and not to click on any suspicious phishing websites to ensure the security of their personal information. To avoid falling victim to credit card fraud groups, the public should also not install apps from unknown sources and those with backdoor programs, which may result in text messages from fraudsters.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\t- Commanding Unit: Taiwan Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office
\r\n\t- Investigating Units: Metropolitan Police Bureau, Royal Thailand Police Narcotics Suppression Bureau (NSB), the Criminal Investigation Bureau’s International Crime Affairs Division and the 3rd Investigation Corps and the Taoyuan Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Corps and Zhongli Precinct.
\r\n\t- Date: August 18, 2023
\r\n\t- Location: Bangkok’s Lat Krabang district and Bang Na district
\r\n\t- Suspects: 6 suspects surnamed Chen (age 34), Lee (age 28), Lin (age 25), Chen (age 24), Chu (age 23), and Tseng (age 31).
\r\n\t- Stolen property and evidence seized:\r\n\t
\r\n\t\t- 600g of amphetamine and over 14kg of marijuana, both classified as second grade drugs.
\r\n\t\t- 17g of ketamine, 29 ermine pills and 1 narcotic-laced instant coffee packet.
\r\n\t
\r\n\t \r\n\t- Case summary:\r\n\t
\r\n\t\t- During an investigation on a drug parcel, our police task force discovered that the mastermind behind the drug trafficking operations was hiding in Thailand. The task force immediately contacted and formed a joint task force with the Metropolitan Police Bureau in Bangkok and the NSB. At about 07:00 on August 18, 2023, the Thai contingent of the task force carried out operations in the Lat Krabang district after deeming it appropriate, apprehending 2 people surnamed Chen (who was wanted for involvement in drug-related crimes) and Lee, and seizing roughly 600g of amphetamine and over 14kg of marijuana.
\r\n\t\t- After further investigation, the Thai police arrested a person surnamed Tseng (who was suspected of being the drug source), his Thai girlfriend and 3 others surnamed Lin, Chu and Chen (the latter 4 all wanted for fraud and drugs) at a residence in Bangkok’s Bang Rak district at around 10:00. The Thai police also discovered 17g of ketamine, 29 ermine pills and 1 narcotic-laced instant coffee packet at the scene.
\r\n\t\t- Extensive investigations revealed that Chen and the 5 other wanted criminals had prepared to traffic drugs to Taiwan by concealing it within automotive drive shafts.
\r\n\t\t- In addition to successfully apprehending the main suspect behind drug trafficking overseas, this case also saw both Taiwan and Thailand’s police forces collaborate on intercepting drugs outside its borders, resulting in another victory in the cross-border fight against drugs.
\r\n\t
\r\n\t \r\n
\r\n
\r\n
The NPA will not condone gangs to challenge public authority
\r\n\r\n
Early of April 28, the main suspect behind the instigation of the New Taipei City shooting, surnamed Lin, was escorted back to Taiwan by the International Criminal Affairs Division of the CIB. As a public declaration of the police’s resolve to fight against crime, the escort was personally led by the National Police Agency Director-General Huang Ming-chao, along with CIB Commissioner Li Hsi-ho and others supervising the escort during the entirety of the mission. The National Police Agency (NPA) has stated that through the cooperation between Taiwan and Malaysia has led to a greater success in fighting transnational crime. The police have stated that they will not allow gangsters to challenge public authority or to disrupt social order.
\r\n
\r\n In the aftermath of the New Taipei City shooting incident, the CIB were quick to discover the suspect’s escape route viaflight. The CIB proceeded to notify their liaison officer in Malaysia to request assistance from the Criminal Investigation Department of the Royal Malaysian Police in arresting the suspect. The two authorities quickly held a coordination meeting, resulting in the Malaysian police to declare the suspect as a persona non grata due to his danger to society. Prior to his entry into Malaysia, the suspect was detained and investigated upon landing in Kuala Lumpur, and was temporarily held by the Malaysian Immigration Department. After requesting for a deportation order from Malaysia’s attorney general, the suspect was handed over to the International Criminal Affairs Division of the CIB, who promptly escorted the suspect back to Taiwan; the suspect was then transferred to a task force to clarify the details of the events.
\r\n
\r\n At the other end, Taiwan has also relentlessly carried out its fight against criminal organizations. Since the shooting, the task force has carried out three waves of arrests on involved criminal organizations and members, and has issued arrest and search warrants against accomplices involved with the firearms, orchestration of the shooting, criminal gangs, and scams. A total of 26 arrests were simultaneously carried out in Taipei City, New Taipei City, Yunlin, and Hualien; with 12 people being taken in and detained, and NTD 2.21 million being seized, thus dealing a fatal blow to the perpetrators. In addition to the arrests of many gang members, it was found that an underage teenager had been recruited and instigated to turn himself in after carrying out the shooting; such a despicable act was meant to evade criminal responsibility. The nation is in uproar over the gang’s use of gullible youth and its endangerment of social order. The NPA has planned a nationwide crackdown on crime lasting from April 26 to May 5, and will focus primarily on active gang members and on the seizure of firearms. This crackdown is meant to clamp down on criminal organizations and demonstrate the police’s resolve to fight crime, thereby reassuring the public.
\r\n
\r\n The NPA appreciate the Royal Malaysian Police for their assistance. Thanks to international cooperation, Taiwan’s police force was able to arrest and deport a fugitive who sought to escape the law by fleeing abroad with speed and precision. No longer will criminals evade the law by simply fleeing abroad. Unwaveringly committed to their duties, the police will now spare no effort in arresting each and every criminal wherever they may hide!
\r\n
\r\n In the future, the police forces of Taiwan and Malaysia will continue cooperating with one another in investigating transnational crime and arresting fugitives that have fled the country. By working together, both forces hope to ensure the safety of the lives and properties of the citizens, as well as maintaining social order. There’s no rest for the wicked, as the NPA persists in its fight against crime.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\t- Investigation unit: Taiwan Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office, International Criminal Affairs Division (CIB), Criminal Investigation Division (Taipei City Police Department), Criminal Investigation Division (Aviation Police Bureau)
\r\n\t- Date of Seizure: July 24, 2022
\r\n\t- Location of Seizure: Taoyuan International Airport and Xindian District, New Taipei City
\r\n\t- Suspect arrested: Tsai ○○ (Male, age 45, from New Taipei City)
\r\n\tJan ○○ (Female, age 41, from New Taipei City) \r\n\t- Evidence seized: 4 mobile phones, 16 blank COVID-19 vaccination "yellow cards" indicating 3-doses of vaccine administered, NT$150,000 in cash, receipts for passport applications, hotel accommodation invoices, handwritten information on brokering the trafficking of others abroad, and other related evidence.
\r\n\t- Summary of criminal case:
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
Recently, there have been numerous incidents of Taiwanese nationals recruited to work in Cambodia by unscrupulous criminal groups. They were forced to work in scam call centers and for other illicit activities. Those who do not comply are dealt with violently. The Executive Yuan is very concerned about this kind of human trafficking that infringes on the personal freedom of Taiwanese nationals, and has joined forces with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Immigration Agency, the Civil Aeronautics Administration, and the National Police Agency to conduct an inter-ministerial joint response. The National Police Agency (NPA) even designated human trafficking as a special major criminal case on July 26. In addition, on August 11, the NPA ordered all precincts and police stations nationwide to conduct home visits to more than 4,000 nationals who had left the country for Cambodia and asked their families to be careful about the safety of their loved ones in Cambodia and to report any personal safety problems to the government immediately. This is the government's initiative to care and encourage relatives, friends and victims to report related cases, with the intent to provide assistance for Taiwanese nationals living or traveling abroad when needed. The NPA also expressed the hope that the good intentions will not be misunderstood.
\r\n
\r\nThe Criminal Police Bureau's International Criminal Affairs Division received leads recently and concluded that a man surnamed Tsai, who goes by the nicknamed "Dan" was working with a fraud ring to send a number of human trafficking victims to the airport for a flight to Cambodia on July 24. The team immediately reported to the Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office and formed a task force with the Criminal Investigation Division of the Taipei Police Department and proceeded to the check-in counter at Taoyuan International Airport on the 24th. Together with the Criminal Investigation Division of the Aviation Police Bureau, the joint task force stopped four nationals who was going to leave the country and arrested the suspect Tsai, who was responsible for transporting the victims. The team also went to Xindian District and arrested the accomplice surnamed Jan after obtaining an emergency search warrant. On July 27, the task force once again stopped a group of three nationals recruited by the same fraud ring at the airport attempting to leave the country. Most of them did not have any technical expertise and they did not know which company they wanted to work for or what kind of work they wanted to do in Cambodia. After explaining the risks of leaving the country, the seven people comprehended the risks involved and thanked the police for stopping them.
\r\n
\r\nIt is understood that the victims were recruited to work in Cambodia, that is, the two suspects Tsai and Jan provided "one-stop" departure services. First, arranging transport from the victims’ place of residence to Taipei City to complete the passport application procedures, then forging the "vaccination yellow card" proving the administration of three doses of COVID-19 vaccines. Before leaving the country, the victims were also provided with accommodation, living expenses and then chartered transport to the airport. The number of Taiwanese nationals tricked into leaving for Cambodia and the amount of illicit gains are still under investigation. The investigation results will also be reported to the inter-ministerial joint task force team for continue processing, and the illegal proceeds shall be confiscated. The two suspects were referred to the Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office for further investigation and requested to be held incommunicado, which was granted by the Taoyuan District Court on August 12.
\r\n
\r\nThese people were tempted to work abroad by high salaries from online advertisements or through friends' recommendations. They followed the instructions of unknown individuals through LINE or WeChat and cooperated in all the departure matters, with all expenses paid for and sometimes even granted with living expenses, unaware of the possibility of being beaten, detained or even resold. The police urge people should be more cautious when seeking jobs over the internet and avoid falling victim to human trafficking. The CIB hereby reminds the public to NOT accept job opportunities that offer:
\r\n\r\n
\r\n\t- Unreasonably high monthly salaries
\r\n\t- Working abroad
\r\n\t- All expenses paid (accommodation, food, and air tickets)
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
These Cambodian transnational scam rings lure unsuspecting people with "high pay and benefits" offers.
\r\n
\r\nBut in reality, once you get off the plane and meet with the criminal syndicate, you lose your freedom instantly. You could be held captive and be beaten or hurt if not obey. Of course, instead of working as a casino croupier or another job, you are most likely forced to make scam phone calls.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
A Tainan teenager was tricked into flying to Cambodia for a job opportunity in April of this year (2022). Upon arrival in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, his passport was taken by the company. And he was forced to work in an online romance and investment scam. If he refuse to cooperate with the company or underperform, he would be punched, kicked or even electrically shocked (tasered) by his supervisors. As he was not willing to cooperate, he was asked to pack up and leave, with the company claiming he had been sold to another Burmese fraud ring. The human smuggling syndicate left Cambodia in the middle of the night and transferred to Myanmar via Thailand. The teenager managed to escape during the ride and immediately contacted the Criminal Investigation Bureau's (CIB) liaison officer in Thailand.
\r\nUpon receiving the report, CIB’s liaison officer in Thailand immediately activated the citizen emergency relief procedures and provided assistance through various channels. Since the teenager was smuggled into Thailand from Cambodia by a human smuggling syndicate, the CIB arranged for the teenager's return to Taiwan after the police liaison officer in Thailand assisted and sheltered him and handled the relevant Thai immigration regulations and completed the Thai judicial procedures. On August 5, 2022, the teenager arrived safely in Taiwan. He was escorted by the Third District of the Tainan City Police Department for initial questioning and clarification of his domestic recruitment experience.
\r\n
\r\nThe teenager was beaten on the back and head with a wooden chair and suffered lacerations to the head when he refused to cooperate in a fraudulent scheme at Sihanoukville, Cambodia. He was then resold multiple times and forcibly trafficked to Myanmar with people of other nationalities by a human smuggling syndicate. The group was first smuggled to Thailand and the teenager took advantage of a break to escape and immediately contacted the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Thailand, which immediately activated rescue mechanisms and successfully rescued and returned the teenager back to Taiwan.
\r\nRecently, there have been numerous cases of Taiwanese people being tricked into going to Cambodia and having restrictions on personal freedom imposed. The tactics used are often to advertise high-paying jobs on social media or Facebook groups, or to lure victims out of the country through close acquaintances asking the victims to repay their debts and having to go to Cambodia or Thailand to work and repay their debts or by inviting them to Cambodia or Thailand for a trip with meals and accommodation covered. Once out of the country, the victims movements are immediately controlled and are required to work in scam rings; if victims do not comply, they will be beaten, electrically shocked and even sold to different "industry parks."
\r\n
\r\nThe CIB hereby urges the public to be aware that human smuggling syndicates can make profits simply by sending people abroad. Criminal groups have changed the conventional way of recruiting by advertising "customer service in gambling industry" and have extended their tentacles to the introduction of overseas jobs in various industries, even to close acquaintances of victims that lure people abroad by asking them to work abroad to repay debts or take all-expenses paid trips. The summer vacation is the peak season for job hunting and travel; students who have just left school should be more cautious when looking for jobs on the Internet and when receiving invitations from acquaintances in order to avoid becoming a target of human trafficking.
\r\n
\r\n
Recently, there have been numerous cases of Taiwanese people being tricked into going to Cambodia and having restrictions on personal freedom imposed. The tactics used are often to lure victims to work in "text customer service" and "gaming backend service" jobs. Many young people are attracted by high salaries and are tricked into leaving Taiwan to take on the advertised job opportunities.
\r\n
\r\nThe International Criminal Affairs Division of the Criminal Police Bureau (CIB) investigated human trafficking cases and identified the use by human smuggling syndicates of Facebook group "Temporary Work" (臨時工) to ostensibly advertise electrician jobs with high salaries of NT$5,100 per day, but in fact attempted to lure Taiwanese nationals to Cambodia to engage in illicit activities such as scam schemes in Sihanoukville. On the morning of July 20, officers from the International Criminal Affairs Division of the CIB proceeded to Taoyuan International Airport and identified a group of six people consisting of brothers, a mother and son and friends at the check-in counter, three of whom were first-time overseas travelers and looked slightly uneasy. After the officers checked the identity of the passengers and took them to the office of the Security and Patrol Brigade of the Aviation Police Bureau for a further discussions, CIB officers found out that the six people had never met the recruiter in person and did not have any work contract or insurance, but received one-way tickets to Sihanoukville, Cambodia booked by the recruiter after only several online chats. After the officers brought up previous cases of Taiwanese nationals being detained and beaten in Cambodia, the six people suddenly came to their senses and told the police that they had not thought it through and thanked them for their timely help.
\r\n
\r\nThe CIB hereby urges the public to be aware that human smuggling syndicates can make profits simply by sending people abroad. Criminal groups have changed the conventional way of recruiting by advertising "customer service in gaming industry" and have extended their tentacles to the introduction of overseas jobs in various industries. The summer vacation is also a peak job hunting season, students who have just left school should be more vigilant when seeking jobs online to avoid becoming a target of human trafficking.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\t- Investigation unit:
\r\n\tTaiwan Taipei District Prosecutors Office, International Criminal Affairs Division of the Criminal Investigation Bureau, Xinyi Precinct of the Taipei City Police Department, Datong Precinct of the Taipei City Police Department, Criminal Investigation Corps of the Miaoli County Police Bureau \r\n\t- Time of seizure: May 5, 2022 and July 5, 2022
\r\n\t- Seizure locations: Taipei City, New Taipei City, Taoyuan City
\r\n\t- Suspects arrested: 9 suspects, including Lee ○-Ho (born 1987), Cheng ○-Hung (born 1988), and Lin ○ Yu (born 1989).
\r\n\t- Illicit gains and evidence seized:
\r\n\t8 computers, 1 laptop computer, 1 USB flash drive, 1 mock gun, 100 blanks, 1 cash counting machine, 2 surveillance devices, 11 mobile phones, 1 package of marijuana (gross weight 4.25 grams), 1 package of ketamine (17.07 grams), employment contracts (Cambodia), account books, promissory notes, and IOUs. \r\n\t- Summary of Criminal Case:
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n\t- Recently, police agencies across the nation have received numerousreports alleging that domestic criminals have collaborated with Cambodian human trafficking syndicates to recruit people to work in Cambodia through Facebook and other online social media channels. Under the pretense of offering excellent job conditions, such as gaming customer service, loan services, and male porn actors, the victims are lured into signing work contracts and sent to Cambodia, where they see their freedom restricted and are forced to engage in online scam and phone fraud. In order to track down the criminal rings behind the schemes and determine the division of organized crime, the International Criminal Affairs Division of the Criminal Investigation Bureau immediately set up a task force with the Xinyi Precinct and Datong Precinct of the Taipei City Police Department, as well as the Criminal Investigation Corps of the Miaoli County Police Bureau and requested the Taipei District Prosecutors Office to lead the investigation.
\r\n\t- After days of investigation, it was discovered that the criminal group continued recruiting Taiwanese nationals to work abroad and arranging for the victims to stay in hotels to complete relevant documents before being escorted to the airport to travel to Cambodia. The task force immediately got to action and rescued the three victims heading to the airport from a hotel in Taipei City on May 5, 2022. Three suspects, including Lin ○-Yu, were apprehended and the request for detention of the accused was granted.
\r\n\t- The task force conducted in-depth investigations for over a month, traced the source of evidence, and then carried out simultaneous arrests and searches on 10 premises on July 5, 2022, and uncovered the criminal syndicate led by Lee ○-Ho, a member of the United Bam○○○ Gang. A total of six suspects were apprehended on site. Furthermore, a total of 8 computers, 1 laptop computer, 1 mock gun, 100 blanks, 1 cash counting machine, employment contracts (Cambodia), account books, promissory notes, and IOUs were seized as evidence. After investigation, the suspects were referred to the Taipei District Prosecutors Office on charges of violating Article 297 of the Criminal Code (A person who for purpose of gain fraudulently causes another to leave the territory of the Republic of China shall be sentenced to imprisonment for no less than three years but not more than ten years and, in addition thereto, a fine of not more than NT$300,000 may be imposed.) and violation of the Organized Crime Prevention Act. The detention of six suspects was approved.
\r\n\t- The CIB hereby solemnly declares that it shall not be lenient with criminal syndicates and shall fulfill its duty to safeguard the safety of citizens. It is a serious felony to cause Taiwanese nationals to travel outside the territory of the Republic of China by fraudulent means. Do not put your countrymen in danger for the sake of illegal commissions offered by criminal groups (US$15,000 to US$20,000).
\r\n\t- At the same time, the CIB calls on members of the public who have dreams of finding jobs overseas to be cautious and not to sign false work contracts easily by heeding to the fraudulent tactics of unscrupulous criminals. If you or your family members are in a similar situation, please seek assistance from any of our consulate offices or call the overseas emergency relief hotline, and report to the nearest police station as soon as possible.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\t- Investigation unit: Taiwan New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, Taipei and Taoyuan Special Duty Squad of the Northern Taiwan Administration Corps National Immigration Agency, International Criminal Affairs Division of the Criminal Investigation Bureau, Nangang Precinct of the Taipei City Police Department
\r\n\t- Date of Seizure: June 1, 2022
\r\n\t- Location of Seizure: Kaohsiung City
\r\n\t- Suspect Arrested: Zhang XX (born 1991)
\r\n\t- Illicit gains and evidence seized: NT$239,000, 2 mobile phones, 1 tablet and 1 laptop, 2 debit cards, 5 crypto-currency ledger cold wallets, domestic and foreign phone cards, 3 notebooks and several SIM cards.
\r\n\t- Summary of Criminal Case:
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n\t- The International Criminal Affairs Division of the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) and the International Affairs & Law Enforcement Division of the National Immigration Agency both received reports from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the U.S. that suspect Zhang ○○ (Zhang ○○ is Chinese-American) was involved in the robbery and theft of approximately $3 million worth of various types of cryptocurrency from a victim on March 16, 2022 at approximately 18:00 (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC -7). As the fugitive is a foreign national, the National Police Agency and the National Immigration Agency jointly formed a task force to investigate the case.
\r\n\t- The U.S. Court of California issued a warrant for Zhang's arrest on March 23rd . After the investigation, it was discovered that Zhang had entered the country before the warrant was issued. In order to investigate whether or not the suspect was in Taiwan with the intent to conceal the illicit gains of the above-mentioned robbery and whether the suspect has committed a crime in Taiwan based on the U.S.-Taiwan joint cooperation on criminal investigations, the task force requested Prosecutor Chen Shih-Shih of the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office to lead the investigation.
\r\n\t- The US national was a fugitive wanted by a U.S. court for involvement in a major criminal felony in the U.S. and The U.S. government had cancelled his passport, so the Zhang was not legally permitted to be in Taiwan. Furthermore, the suspect is involved in armed robbery, intimidation, kidnapping, illegal detention and other violent crimes in the U.S., endangering the interests of Taiwan’s public safety or public order, so he was actively pursued through multiple channels with the joint cooperation of the CIB and the National Immigration Agency. On May 31, he was arrested with a detention warrant issued by the prosecutor, and on June 3, he was forcibly deported from Taiwan in accordance with immigration law.
\r\n\t- This case involved inter-agency cooperation in the form of intelligence sharing and integration. In accordance with the "Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters between the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office and the American Institute in Taiwan" signed by Taiwan and the United States, the suspect charged with serious crimes in the United States was successfully apprehended. Foreigners hiding in Taiwan in violation of the law in Taiwan or other countries shall be investigated in accordance with the law in order to maintain social security. Through the cooperation of domestic and foreign law enforcement agencies, the foreign suspect with security concerns was successfully arrested, and serves as a stellar example of cross-agency cooperation and fully demonstrates the spirit of Taiwan’s law enforcement agencies in fighting crime without borders.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
The first fraud case that a forged official document written in foreign language in the name of the Director-General of the National Police Agency (NPA) was reported to the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) last month. A citizen in Changhua County surnamed Chang received an email claiming to be an overseas courier company. The email came attached with a fake official document in English with a forged signature of the Director-General of the NPA. The email claimed that cash contained in the consigned items were seized by the NPA and Mr. Chang was required to pay a declaration fee of £3,500, otherwise the goods would be confiscated. The email also claimed that this fee was charged due to the war in Russia and Ukraine because the Taiwanese government wanted to prevent people from financing the war. Mr. Chang identified the email as suspicious and promptly reported to the police, thus averting any personal financial loss.
\r\n
\r\nThe CIB advised that fraud syndicates often send random emails or text messages under the pretense of government agencies. These scams often make the victim anxious with messages such as "package is waiting for delivery but encountered problems" and other reasons, asking victims to remit money within the deadline. The victim falls victim when they are convinced by the presentation of "forged official documents" from a supposed government agency that requires the victim's cooperation in "monitoring the account, paying back taxes or administrative fees."
\r\n
\r\nThe CIB pointed out that the police and criminal investigation units will not produce full English documents and will not send official documents by e-mail to ask any citizen to pay any fees. When necessary, subjects involved in a particular case will be notified by official notice to appear for interrogation or to pay due fees at a designated public institution. Citizens are advised to check whether or not the sender's domain and URL are suspicious and call "110" to notify the police or "165" for anti-fraud inquiries if necessary.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\t- Investigation unit: Taiwan Taipei District Prosecutors Office, CIB International Criminal Affairs Division, Xinyi Precinct of Taipei City Police Department, Criminal Investigation Corps of New Taipei City Police Department, Yongkang Precinct of Tainan City Police Department
\r\n\t- Date of Seizure: March 29, 2022
\r\n\t- Location of Seizure: New Taipei City, Taoyuan City, Tainan City
\r\n\t- Suspects Arrested: 5 suspects, including Tsai ○○ (born in 1983)
\r\n\t- Illicit gains and evidence seized: 2 card printing machines, 1 cash counting machine, 1 computer, 1 magnetic stripe reading and writing device, 382 blank chip cards, 54 blank cards (without chips), 41 UnionPay cards, 3 printed white cards, 37 stored value cards of coffee chains, 3 bank cards, 8 credit cards, 19 bank passbooks, 7 mobile phones, 2 sim cards, 1 USB flash drive, 1 batch of merchandises from coffee chains and other evidence.
\r\n\t- Summary of Criminal Case:
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n\t- The International Criminal Affairs Division of the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) received a notification from the Singapore Police Force (SPF) that the victims in Singapore had received an email from a fake post office, claiming that the delivery of a package had failed, and that pre-payment was needed before the next delivery attempt. The victims clicked on the phishing link and followed the website's instructions to enter his credit card number and OTP password, then found that his credit card was tied to "Apple Pay" and immediately afterwards, the credit card was used to buy stored value points from a Taiwanese coffee chain. The CIB cooperated with the SPF and reported to the Taipei District Prosecutors Office to lead the investigation.
\r\n\t- After investigating the case, it was found that the suspect Li ○○ recruited members and set up a phishing website to send emails or text messages to scam victims. After the victims clicked on the provided links and entered their credit card/UnionPay card numbers and OTP passwords, the victims' credit card/UnionPay card information would be stolen and recreated as counterfeit cards (credit card/UnionPay card). The members of the criminal group would then bind the cards with mobile payment platforms such as "Apple Pay" and proceed to the physical stores of the coffee chain companies, where they would purchase stored value cards with the counterfeit credit card/UnionPay cards and then sell the stored value cards to the third parties at a lower discount in exchange for cash.
\r\n\t- Eyeing the popularity of the coffee chain's products in Taiwan, the scam group took advantage of the coffee chain's occasional promotions and rack up additional purchases with counterfeit cards, which could amount to NT$1 million in just one week during the promotion period, which is then sold at a lower discount downstream for profit. Because the points on the stored value card are equivalent to cash, the method is used to launder money across borders for illicit gain. Within a year, the criminal group made a profit of nearly NT$10 million, with victims spread throughout the world.
\r\n\t- On March 29, 2022, the CIB’s International Criminal Affairs Division, Xinyi Precinct of Taipei City Police Department, Criminal Investigation Corps of New Taipei City Police Department, Yongkang Precinct of Tainan City Police Department jointly formed a task force to arrest five suspects, including the ringleader surnamed Tsai and seized evidence such as card printing machines, blank chip cards, UnionPay cards and stored value cards. The case was referred to the Taipei District Prosecutors Office for expanded investigation.
\r\n\t- The CIB urges the public not to click on unknown SMS or email links and to be careful when asked to fill in credit card / UnionPay card information. In particular, OTP (One Time Password) should never be provided to anyone at will. Furthermore, if you purchase products or points that are significantly below market value, you may unwittingly become an accomplice to a crime. The public is advised not to buy unreasonably low priced products or store value cards to avoid violating the law.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\t- 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
\r\n\t- Date of seizure: January 19, 2022 and April 8, 2022
\r\n\t- Location of Seizure: Xinzhuang District and Sanchong District, New Taipei City and Sanxing Township, Yilan County
\r\n\t- Suspects arrested: 15 suspects, including Chen○○
\r\n\t- 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.
\r\n\t- Summary of criminal case:
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n\t- 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.
\r\n\t- 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.
\r\n\t- 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.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\t- Investigation unit:Taiwan Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office
\r\n\tSouthern Anti-Crime Center, Criminal Investigation Bureau (Squad 1, 8th Investigation Corp)
\r\n\tCriminal Investigation Brigade, Taoyuan Police Department (Criminal Investigation Corps 1, 2 and 8)
\r\n\tTaoyuan Police Department, Bade Precinct, Longtan Precinct, Guishan Precinct, etc.
\r\n\tCriminal Investigation Corps, Hsinchu City Police Bureau \r\n\t- Time of seizure: January 11, 2022 and March 22, 2022
\r\n\t- Seizure locations: Taichung City, Taoyuan City, Taipei City, etc.
\r\n\t- Suspects: Hsiao ○○ (born in 1969), Chang ○○ (born in 1987) and 10 others.
\r\n\t- Seized evidence: cash of over NT$120,000, a large number of passbooks, debit cards, a batch of transfer details, PCs and mobile phones, etc.
\r\n\t- Summary of Criminal Case:
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n\t- The Southern Anti-Crime Center of the Criminal Investigation Bureau received reports from a number of victims alleging that the criminals spread information about the Trust Global Investment Platform (hereinafter referred to as "TG Platform") on the Internet or in various investment and financial chat groups, falsely claiming that the TG Platform "earns interest by paying off other people's credit card defaults." The criminals pretended to be successful investors and shared their profitable tips in order to lure people into downloading the Trust Global App and joining the membership. The criminals then disguised as customer service staff instructed victims to exchange New Taiwan dollars for "T-coins" on the TG Platform. Members were then graded according to the amount of money deposited; the more money saved, the higher the grade and the more interest earned. They further claimed members could earn interest ranging from 5-10% each time they completed their tasks. Initially, members could successfully redeem small profits from their accounts on the TG platform but would be cheated out of their money once they got hooked on it and invested a large amount of money. Members then would be told that their accounts were locked by the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) due to the detection of unusually high profits, and an "unlocking fee" is required to re-activate their accounts. Some victims followed the criminals' instructions to remit the unlocking fee in return for the criminals' further deception. The police estimated that the criminals have used this technique to defraud hundreds of people, and the amount of money obtained exceeded hundreds of millions of dollars. The CIB and the police units aforementioned formed a task force and requested the Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office to oversee the investigation.
\r\n\t- The criminal group is not only in the business of fraud, during the investigation of the main suspect surnamed Hsiao, it was discovered that because of his suspicion that one of his money mules, surnamed Tsai, who was also in charge of laundering illicit gains, pocketed the money himself, but he also directed 7-8 members of his gang to hack and slash Tsai with lethal intent. The brutal attack caused traumatic head injuries to Tsai, who remains in a coma with severe brain damage andunable to speak. The police immediately set up a task force to speed up the porcess of collection of evidence in order to eliminate the criminal organization and apprehend all suspects. With sufficient evidence and the right timing, the police carried out several raids and arrests at the above-mentioned locations with search and detention warrants issued by the Taoyuan District Court and the Taoyuan Prosecutors Office. A total of 10 suspects were arrested and incriminating evidence was seized. The police questioned the suspects and charged the main suspect Hsiao and others with fraud and violating the Money Laundering Control Act and Organized Crime Prevention Act. The main suspects, Hsiao and Chang, were ordered to be detained and held incommunicado by the court.
\r\n\t- The police urge the public to remain vigilant and suspicious of online chat groups and telephone calls claiming investment opportunities with high returns, or LINE groups claiming high-growth stocks and other suspicious information. Victims are usually drawn in with a small amount of profit initially while they will be defrauded out of large amounts of money later on. These are common fraudulent techniques and the public should be on guard against such activities. The policewill continue investigating related crimes; if members of the public suspect fraud schemes, please call the 165 Anti-fraud Advisory Hotline to make further inquiries.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\t- Case: Seizure of Transnational Drug Trafficking Operations
\r\n\t- Instructing Unit: Taiwan Taipei District Prosecutors Office (Zhi Unit) (Su Unit)
\r\n\t- Investigating Units:The 3rd Investigation Corp of the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the National Police Agency, Ministry of the Interior.
\r\n\tTaipei Customs, Customs Administration, Ministry of Finance.
\r\n\tLuzhou Precinct, New Taipei City Police Department.
\r\n\tXinzhuang Precinct, New Taipei City Police Department.
\r\n\tDaan Precinct, Taipei City Police Department.
\r\n\tZhongshan Precinct, Taipei City Police Department.
\r\n\tCriminal Investigation Corps, Keelung City Police Bureau.
\r\n\tThird Precinct, Keelung City Police Bureau. \r\n\t- Date of seizure: January 5, January 17, and February 16, 2022
\r\n\t- Location of seizure: New Taipei City and Keelung City
\r\n\t- Suspects Arrested: 9 suspects, including Jiang XX and Wu XX.
\r\n\t- Evidence Seized:Category three narcotics, Ketamine (total gross weight 13,718 grams) and liquid-state Ketamine (total gross weight 3,196 grams), 2 international parcels, 16 bags of coffee beans containing drugs, 12 mobile phones and other related evidence.
\r\n\t- Summary of criminal case:\r\n\t
\r\n\t\t- In recent years, due to the continued impact of the COVID-19 epidemic restricting entry and departures from the country, drug syndicates have begun to change their modus operandi, often using international mail parcels to traffic drugs from abroad in a piecemeal manner. In response to the current situation, the relevant government units have strengthened cooperation mechanisms to enhance border detection. In late December 2021, a suspicious mail parcel was found by personnel from Taipei Customs in the line of duty. The customs personnel immediately reported the parcel to the Criminal Investigation Bureau's Drug Enforcement Center, which subsequently assigned the 3rd Investigation Corp to investigate. Upon unsealing, the parcel was found to have been sent from Europe with the name of "coffee beans" printed on the bags. The bags contained a total of 4,089 grams of Ketamine, a Category three narcotics. The CIB investigation team immediately reported to the Taiwan Taipei District Prosecutors Office and formed a task force to investigate the case. In early January 2022, Taipei Customs once again detected an international parcel from Europe containing 4,077 grams of Ketamine, which was also reported to the Taipei District Prosecutors Office for further proceedings.
\r\n\t\t- After the task force actively collected evidence, it arrested a suspect surnamed Yeh, and two other suspects surnamed Wu and Lee, who were in charge of transporting drugs. After consolidating relevant intelligence, the task force learned of the relevant locations of the drug syndicate, and immediately requested for arrest and search warrants, and subsequently apprehended three suspects, including the suspects surnamed Chiang, Wu and Lin, members of the syndicate. After tracing the source and seizing 5,552 grams of solid Ketamine and 3,196 grams of liquid Ketamine from the premises, a second drug parcel was seized from a suspect surnamed Yu, and the suspects surnamed Chang and Ou were also arrested. The investigation found that the two cases using international mail parcels to traffic drugs were planned by the same syndicate, and the two suspects, Chiang and Wu, were the key masterminds behind the case. The members under their command were delegated with various responsibilities to carry out the drug trafficking operations, and the networks between the members were set up with breakpoints to avoid police investigation. After the task force collected evidence, the team was able to grasp the pattern of drug trafficking and the location of the group, and launched three consecutive waves of police operations to apprehend the prime suspects. The case was referred to the Taipei District Prosecutors Office for investigation in accordance with the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act. Due to the huge profits involved in illicit drug trafficking, it has always been a major focus of the government’s law enforcement operations. This case is about drug trafficking through international parcels with drugs entering Taiwan to be sold on the market. Relevant law enforcement agencies will continue to plan and target transnational drug cartels in order to carry out the principle of "stopping drugs flowing into the country, intercepting drugs at the border and detecting drugs inside the country" to effectively stop the flow of drugs into the country that cause harm to society.
\r\n\t
\r\n\t \r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\t- Investigation Unit:New Taipei District Prosecutor's Office (Liang Unit); 1st Investigation Corps (Second Squadron), Criminal Investigation Bureau; Taipei City Police Department (Zhongshan Precinct, Songshan Precinct), Taichung City Police Department (Criminal Investigation Division and Fourth Branch); Hsinchu County Police Department (Zhubei Precinct)
\r\n\t- Date of seizure:November 17, 2021 and February 23, 2022
\r\n\t- Seizure Location:New Taipei City, Taoyuan City, Taichung City
\r\n\t- Suspects apprehended:Mao XX (born 1978), Huang XX (born 1965) and other suspects (16 in total)
\r\n\t- Evidence seized:1 desktop computer, 23 mobile phones, 8 Eden Moon EasyCards[CC1] , 25 bank deposit books and other related evidence
\r\n\t- Summary of criminal case:\r\n\t
\r\n\t\t- The 1st Investigation Corps (Second Squadron) of the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) received a report on August 14, 2020 that suspects with the nickname Poseidon and Chen Xiao Mao and others created an Eden Moon Platform app, and, respectively, took on the roles of platform manager, LINE investment chatroom moderator, event seminar hosts and other roles. The platform, ostensibly in the name of investing in virtual pets (cats, dogs), promised that members who purchase virtual pets are guaranteed to receive an average daily profit of 2% of the value of the adopted (purchased) pets and 5-10% of the value of the pets promoted by referring downline members to join in the scheme. After attracting members to join, the new members were asked to use their own phone numbers to pair their own personal bank accounts for trading among members and purchasing virtual pets from the app platform, as well as for receiving and remitting funds. The group then sporadically posted virtual pets on the trading platform for members to speculate on and purchase, thereby making a profit; the trading platform was closed without warning in April 2020, causing many members to lose their money.
\r\n\t\t- After nearly a year of surveillance and evidence collected by the task force, it was discovered that the criminal group was first led by suspect Mao XX, who went to China to purchase the Eden Moon platform app, and then shareholders Chen XX and others set up five LINE investment chatrooms under the nicknames Poseidon and Chen Xiao Mao and served as moderators. Other members of the group are responsible for responding to members' inquiries, organizing investment promotion seminars and promoting investment speculation in the LINE investment chatroom group. After the evidence collection was completed, two waves of arrests were conducted on November 16, 2021 and February 23, 2022, respectively, and a total of 16 suspects (12 males and 4 females), including Mao XX, the main suspect, and Huang XX, the main shareholder, were apprehended and their premises were searched. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that during the period from the establishment of the investment platform in August 2019 to its sudden closure on April 2, 2020, 56 victims were identified, with a total amount defrauded from victims of approximately NT$20 million.
\r\n\t\t- The CIB urges the public to seek reasonable profits through legal channels. Claims of high or steady risk-free profits, or profits from unknown sources are most likely warning signs of fraudulent investment scams. Careful investigation is the best way to prevent fraud. For any doubts, please call the 165 Anti-Fraud Hotline immediately for verification.
\r\n\t
\r\n\t \r\n
\r\n
\r\n
According to the Criminal Investigation Bureau, there were 1,174 reported dating scams in 2021, accounting for 4.72% of all fraud cases in general, and the financial loss amounted to over NT$410 million, which shows that online dating scams are still rampant. Criminals continue to use social networks to launch love "scams" in tandem with current events and important holidays (such as Valentine's Day), making it impossible for those who are single to resist. But in fact, these fraudulent techniques can still be identified, so we ask members of the public to please be aware of them.
\r\n
\r\nEarlier this year, a Kaohsiung waitress Chang, 21, met a self-proclaimed Korean man (IG: dongho*n3*2) who has worked as an engineer in Germany for 7 years. Dongho*n seemed to have an attractive sunny disposition, so she added his LINE (ID: Marvin4555, now reported as a fraudulent account). After chatting for a few weeks, the man mentioned that February 14th is approaching and wanted to buy a Valentine's Day gift for Chang. Chang was touched and happy upon hearing this. But then she received an email from a company claiming to be International Courier Service (ICS) notifying her that a parcel from Germany was stuck and that she had to quickly pay a total of around US$2,000 in customs fees. The woman, who was by then already deeply in love, knew it was a gift from the man and asked how to pay. The courier company "thoughtfully" noted that it works with a bank in Taiwan and could provide a specialized deposit account and asked Chang to transfer the fees directly to waive international handling fees. After the man "learned" of the situation, he rushed to reassure Chang, who had already remitted the money, saying that he had anticipated the possibility of incurring other costs for the delivery, so he put US$25,000 in the gift package and asked Chang to put her mind at ease. After heeding her family's advice and realizing that this was an instance of a romance scam, Chang went to the police station on Valentine's Day and reported her loss of NT$56,000 in total.
\r\n
\r\nA female accountant surnamed Lin, 44, living in Hsinchu City also connected with a man ALEX CH*A on Instagram earlier this year. The man claimed to work in Singapore. After adding each other on the LINE messenger app and texting for a month, Alex also mentioned that Valentine’s Day was approaching, and that he wanted to send a parcel to Lin. Not long after, Lin received an email from a shipping company (Hanj*n Fast Express) notifying her to pay NT$30,000 in import duties. Lin[CC1] at first felt odd and wondered why the customs payment notice was only sent by email, and was to be transferred to a private bank account in Taiwan. The process seemed too simple and sloppy. However, she ultimately gave in to Alex’s persuasions and transferred the money. Lin later checked online for information on the shipping company and discovered that the company had been out of business for a few years and is unable to make normal deliveries, so she went to the police station to report the loss of NT$30,000.
\r\n
\r\nThe Criminal Investigation Bureau pointed out that the criminals all have scripts to swindle gullible victims on the pretense of romance and dating. On careful examination, it is not difficult to find a lot of loopholes. Usually criminals proceed through the following process to scam their victims:
\r\n\r\n
\r\n\t- Hitting on victims on IG or dating apps.
\r\n\t- Unintentionally revealing "prominent" family and work backgrounds.
\r\n\t- Asking for photos from victims and complimenting their beauty.
\r\n\t- Asking to add LINE, WhatsApp and WeChat to continue chatting, and start a romantic pursuit.
\r\n\t- Falsely claiming that the victim needs to pay customs duty for sending high-priced gifts or that temporary capital is needed for a work situation, etc. and asking the victim to remit money.
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
The culprits use fake courier websites, emails and proxy bank accounts to deceive people into remitting money on the pretext of "having a partnership with a bank in Taiwan, and providing a bank specialized deposit account for remittance, which can save international handling fees." Please be sure to use search engines to verify the accuracy and reasonableness of the source of information, and pay attention to the relevant regulations. Upon seizure of goods, customs authorities will always issue a written seizure receipt. If there is a fine, it will also be sent to the person liable to penalty in writing. Any notices delivered purely by e-mail or the messenger on a dating app is most likely a scam. Import duties and penalties must be collected through financial institutions and credited directly to the national treasury rather than remitted to private accounts. As White Valentine's Day approaches, we remind the public to be vigilant to prevent scams and fraud.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\t- Investigation Unit: The 7th Investigation Corp of the Criminal Investigation Bureau
\r\n\t- Date of Arrest: February 9th, 2022
\r\n\t- Location of the Arrest: Taipei City
\r\n\t- Suspect Detained: Tan XX (Male, b. 1979)
\r\n\t- Evidence seized: NT$60,000 in cash, 2 iPhones purchased by fraudulent credit card , fraudulent credit card documentation, 1 batch of forged identification, 32 credit cards, 1 card reader, bank passbooks, and personal chops.
\r\n\t- Case summary:\r\n\t
\r\n\t\t- Credit card payment is popular with the general public due to its convenience. Around 52.63 million credit cards are currently active in Taiwan. People over the age of 20 each holds 3 credit cards on average. The 7th Investigation Corp of CIB recently received complaints on people receiving credit card bills even though they didn’t apply for one.
\r\n\t\t- During the investigation, the 7th Corp found out that suspect Tan was a former bank employee who used to work on assisting clients for applying the credit cards. Therefore, Tan was familiar with the internal procedures for credit card application. Tan was also an expert in Photoshop software, electronic signatures and scanning programs. A mass of personal information obtained through work was then used to forge ID cards, salaries, wages and financial statements. A new generation of forgery technique was then used to submit online credit card applications and tricked the bank into approving them. Dozens of credit cards made by ten local banks were found to have been defrauded. Tan used this new approach to credit card forgery and successfully use the credit card to pay the goods for more than NT$1,000,000.
\r\n\t\t- Prosecutor Lin Shao-Yeh from Taiwan Taipei District Prosecutors Office was notified and a task force was set up with officers from Hai-Shan Precinct of New Taipei City Police Department, and the Criminal Investigation Division of Taipei City Police Department. Once the investigation was thoroughly complete, a search warrant was issued by the Taipei District Court. The operation took place at a business hotel in Taipei’s Zhong-Zheng District. They arrested Tan and seized various evidences, including cash, iPhones, forged credit card documents, and identification.
\r\n\t\t- Using credit card for payments offers an alternative way to pay. The fraudulent use of credit cards for illegal gain not only posed a serious threat to the financial order but also to the property of the victims and banks. CIB reminds the public to keep their personal details safe, so they don’t become the next victim. CIB will continue investigating the case to determine whether there were more victims and safeguarded people’s property.
\r\n\t
\r\n\t \r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
The risk of fraud is always present in our daily life. A single phone call or SMS could be a trap set by criminals. People now have access to fast and convenient networks through the mobile phone. Despite the convenience offered by high-tech devices, they are often exploited by scammers to target unsuspecting people. The Age of the Internet will continue to see new advances, but is the general public keeping up to date on their fraud awareness?
\r\n
\r\nMs. Chang lives in New Taipei City and received a SMS offering easy loans without fees. The Lunar New Year was approaching and a need for cash led to her contacting “Service Representative Chen” on LINE. Once Chen had obtained Ms. Chang’s personal details, he said that the loan had been approved but she must pay “legal fees.” He then claimed that cash loans required a “security fee.” Next, he require further payments from Ms. Chang by contract signing, stamp duty, travel costs and other excuses. In the end, he told Ms. Chang to deposit her passbook and bank card in a storage locker at a MRT station. Someone will then be sent to pick it up. Ms. Chang only realized that she had been scammed when she was alerted by the bank. She ended up losing more than NT$510,000 and became an unwitting accomplice of the scammers as well!
\r\n
\r\nMs. Chang had costed a lot for her blind trust and failure to verify the scammer’s words. Therefore, it is important to hold an “zero trust” attitude to all the information and communications received in everyday life.
\r\nThe following four “Don’ts” should also be practiced:
\r\n1. Don’t provide your personal and credit card details (by taking a photo, direct exchange, or courier delivery) for just any reason.
\r\n2. Don’t click on unknown links in SMS, e-mails and social networking software to avoid identity theft.
\r\n3. Don’t reveal the login account, password, or verification code sent to your mobile phone for websites and online banking.
\r\n4. Don’t accept friend invites from strangers. Be extra cautious if someone claims to have a risk-free investment or uses a variety of excuses to solicit transfers of money.
\r\n
\r\nOur highly developed online world means everything is now connected. We hope that “fraud prevention awareness” can be connected too. CIB reminds everyone that the calls from unfamiliar numbers, mobile SMS, job seeking/loan/financial investment messages or new friend invitations on social networks should be seen as untrustworthy. Note the key words of those suspicious calls or message, , and verify the information through official channels or the Internet. Or call the 165 national anti-fraud hotline for verification. The hotline is staffed around the clock to provide detailed information and help you protect yourself against cunning scammers.
\r\n
\r\n\t- Investigation unit: 7th Investigation Corp of the Criminal Investigation Bureau
\r\n\tZhongshan and Songshan District, Taipei City Police Department \r\n\t- Date of Seizure: November 3, 2021
\r\n\t- Location of Seizure: Taipei City
\r\n\t- Suspects arrested: Peng XX (Male, born in 1968)
\r\n\t- Evidence: Computer, laptop, tablet, three mobile phones, etc.
\r\n\t- Summary of criminal case:\r\n\t
\r\n\t\t- Some customers of the renowned virtual reality (VR) technology developing company, I* Corporation, recently reported anomalies in the VR service purchased. After investigation, it was found that the company’s background system was hacked, causing millions of losses in operating costs. The company thus, filed a police report.
\r\n\t\t- After perusing the company’s log of its background system, the hacker was found to have altered its identity multiple times and tried to hide his IP address before hacking into the company’s database. This caused anomalies at the client-side. The hacker further launched a DDoS attack (commonly known as a “zombie attack”), overwhelming the company’s server. The system thus, failed to make network connections properly.
\r\n\t\t- The aforementioned attacks were launched using VPN to hide the IP address. After investigating layers of location diversion, the suspect who committed the crime believed to be Peng. As such, the prosecutor of Taiwan Taipei District Prosecutor's Office, Ms. Yu Ming-Hui was asked to lead the investigation. Zhongshan and Songshan Precincts of Taipei City Police Department established a task force to assist in the investigation, serving a search warrant to Peng’s residence in Zhongshan area on November 3, 2021. The police seized computers, mobile phones and other evidence on-site, and arrested Peng for further interrogation. The case shall be forwarded to Taiwan Taipei District Prosecutor's Office for further action after the documentation of evidence is compiled.
\r\n\t\t- The victim of this case is a technology developing company in the meta universe. The company shall also serve as the bridge of connection between our country and the world in relation to the relevant technology. The quick case closure not only serves as a deterrence to potential criminals, but also shows the government’s determination in protecting the country’s international competitive advantage in artificial intelligence (AI) industry. The company shall also claim the hacker for compensation. The police department calls upon the public to observe the regulations pertaining to the internet. Committing crimes to serve one’s interest may well cause one to be punished by the rule of law.
\r\n\t
\r\n\t \r\n
","liaisonper":"","liaisontel":"","liaisonfax":"","liaisonemail":"","docs":[],"images":[],"videos":[],"audios":[],"resources":[]},{"subject":"Criminal Investigation Bureau Busted Counterfeit Altering Probes for Cosmetic Medical Group (1110104)","dataClassName":"News Releases","pubUnitName":"Criminal Information Division","posterDate":"2022-01-04","updateDate":"2022-01-04","detailContent":"\r\n
\r\n\t- Investigation unit: Taiwan Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office (Che Department), 6th Investigation Corp of the Criminal Investigation Bureau (second team), Lingya and Zuoying Precincts of Kaohsiung City Police Department, The Second Special Police of National Police Agency (Second Corps)
\r\n\t- Date of Seizure: May 12, 2021
\r\n\t- Location of Seizure: Kaohsiung City
\r\n\t- Suspects arrested: Chu (Male, 39 years old)
\r\n\tLin (Female, 40 years old)
\r\n\tChien (Female, 38 years old)
\r\n\tLiu (Male, 30 years old)
\r\n\tLin (Female, 41 years old) \r\n\t- Confiscated Stolen Goods/Evidence: Altered thermage from the USA, ultherapy probe, hyaluronic acid, botox, ultherapy consumables, original imported empty boxes of thermage, mobile phones, computer mainframe, delivery note, Benz passenger car and other evidence.
\r\n\t- Summary of Criminal Case:
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n\t- The suspect, Chu (nicknamed “David”) was a well-known counterfeit product supplier for the cosmetic medical industry. Since 2019, he had established a legal clinic but also ran a counterfeit and equipment altering group, in which Lin and the rest worked under him. He used the legal clinic as a cover for selling (leasing) altered thermage and ultheraphy probes to make a large sum of illegal profit.
\r\n\t- After the 6th Investigation Corp of the Criminal Investigation Bureau (second team), received a complaint and the corresponding intelligence, it immediately requested Prosecutor Chen Yung-Chang from Taiwan Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office (Che Department) to lead the investigation. Along with Lingya Precinct of Kaohsiung City Police Department and other units, Prosecutor Chen got hold of several cosmetic medical clinics in the south that Chu invested in. After evidence gathering, on May 12, 2021, search and arrest warrants approved by Taiwan Kaohsiung District Court (Prosecutors Office) were served to search Chu’s 16 residences and make an arrest on Chu. Whilst evidence, including altered thermage from the USA, ultherapy probe, hyaluronic acid, botox, ultherapy consumables, original imported empty boxes of thermage, mobile phones, computer mainframe, delivery note, Benz passenger car, was seized. After examination performed by distributors, the evidence was determined to be counterfeit medical equipment. It was estimated that the market value of the infringement exceeded NT$100 million. The case and the suspects have since been forwarded to Taiwan Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office for further investigation pursuant to the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act and Trademark Act.
\r\n\t- In recent years, micro-plastic surgical procedures have gained more popularity. The procedures make the patients regain their beauty, while benefitting from a short treatment duration. The time required for healing has also become minuscule and the procedures are proved to be very effective. These advantages have attracted many people. The counterfeit medical probes seized in this case were not as steady as the original imported ones. If not handled carefully, the patients may suffer burns or even become disfigured. As such, the counterfeits may be detrimental to the physical and mental health of the patients and cause economic losses. The police call upon the public to check for “medical device license number” and “drug license number” when using cosmetic medical products, such as phrases like MOH (Administration) medical device imported, MOH (Administration) medical device manufactured, MOH (Administration) drug imported, MOH (Administration) drug manufactured, etc. Drugs bearing such labels are approved by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. To verify the relevant product information of approved drugs, please visit the official website of the Food and Drug Administration (at http://www.fda.gov.tw >Drug or Medical Devices>Information Query>Drug License Database>Drug, Medical Devices, including Cosmeceutical License Query).
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
While surfing his Facebook (FB) page, Mr. Han from Tainan noticed an FB fan page selling “Lithuania Original Imported Master-Class Chocolate.” Remembering that Lithuania had just donated many doses of vaccine to Taiwan not too long ago, Mr. Han clicked on the link to find out more in response to the calling to return the favor. The advertisement made a detailed introduction along with glamorous photos. Seeing phrases like “Thank you, Taiwan!!! Gratitude Promotion”, Mr. Han decided to order two boxes of chocolate. After a few days, he went to a convenience store to pick up the package and paid NT$1,280. He was looking forward to unpacking the chocolate. That was when he found out that it was generic chocolate from Mainland China. He was shocked to find out that all the claims in the advertisement were lies!
\r\n
\r\nIn recent years, a growing population has started shopping via FB, LINE, and IG. With just a few clicks, the products one desires will be sent to one’s home. Scammers are eyeing the niche of convenient and swift online shopping. They purchase advertisements on social media, and steal and upload photos from the original vendors or news articles. Then, they would hold promotions where they make offers cheaper than the market prices to attract consumer attention. Members of the public may visit the advertisements and go on the website for shopping. The content of the advertisements would stress payment upon receipt of goods to win potential consumers over. They may also pass themselves to be large companies or shopping malls in Taiwan to scam consumers. They then use logistic service providers (delivery service providers) and value-adding services like payment upon receipt of goods offered by convenience store chains to deliver the goods. After making payments, consumers would find that the products are inconsistent with the advertisements or have obvious flaws or low quality. When they ask to return the products, they are blocked and have no avenue to seek help.
\r\n
\r\nAfter observing the “one-page advertisement” used by criminals, it is noted that they usually have the following characteristics: (1) The selling price is much lower than the market price; (2) Promotion is offered within a limited period or in count down to attract attention; (3) Claims like free delivery, free return within seven days with no question asked, allowing unboxing to check and no negative feedback are common; (4) No company address or customer service number, only LINE or Messenger contact details; (5) Unusual long web address with payment upon receipt of goods. Some offer credit card payment options (credit card payment webpages, more often than not, are fabricated by criminals, and therefore run the risk of credit card information theft); (6) The websites often have Simplified Chinese characters or Mainland China vernacular, such as “direct mailing”, “postal fee”, etc.
\r\n
\r\nWhen noticing the product is not consistent with the advertisement, especially after payment is made, one should quickly inform the convenience store or the delivery service provider. At the same time, one can call the sender on the delivery note to arrange for returning the product. If the delivery note does not bear the details of the sender, one can inquire with the delivery service provider and inform them of the product return, as well as ask for the contact number and e-mail of the sender before arranging for a refund.
\r\nA gentle reminder from Anti-Fraud Hotline 165: Scammers are common and hiding amongst us. You are advised not to make private transactions via social media. You may download “Anti-Fraud Master” on the LINE app to help you distinguish if the shopping websites are indeed fraudulent. Alternatively, you may call Anti-Fraud Hotline 165 to make further inquiries.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
Breaking the Flow of Illegal Money: A Case of Illegal Online Gambling, Money Laundering and Illegal Foreign Exchange Using Fake Telecom Server Rooms Has Been Solved
\r\nInvestigation unit: Taiwan Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office
\r\nInterpol Detective Team I; Kaohsiung City Police Department Gangshan Precinct, Gushan Precinct and Criminal Investigation Corps; and Taipei City Police Department Criminal Investigation Corps
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n\t- Date of seizure: December 15, 2020, March 31 and April 26, 2021
\r\n\t- Location of seizure: Fengshan District and Gushan District in Kaohsiung City and West Central District in Tainan City
\r\n\t- Suspects arrested: 24 suspects were arrested, such as Hong and others.
\r\n\t- Stolen property and evidence seized: A total of 85 cell phones, cash in the amount of $184,000, 1 laptop computer, 3 accounting books, 1 instruction manual, 22 ATM cards, 130 USBkeys, 12 servers and other related evidence.
\r\n\t- Summary of criminal case:\r\n\t
\r\n\t\t- The suspect, Hong, is suspected to have run an illegal online gambling, money laundering and illegal foreign exchange and money transfer business in Gushan District, Kaohsiung City. We (Detective Team I) received this information in November 2020. In order to further investigate the said information, we set up a task force with Kaohsiung City Police Department's Gongshan Precinct, Gushan Precinct and the Criminal Police Corps as well as the Taipei City Police Department's Criminal Police Corps to investigate and report to the Taiwan Kaohsiung District Prosecutor's Office in order to dismantle this criminal group.
\r\n\t\t- After conducting intensive evidence collection and investigation, we uncovered the money laundering operation in Gushan District, Kaohsiung City, on December 15, 2020, and arrested 14 suspects at the scene, including Wang, Chiang and other members. We continued to arrest another three suspects on March 31, 2021, including the head of the money laundering operation, Hong; the sponsor, Chen; the head of the illegal foreign exchange operation, Siu. We also notified another seven suspects involved in the money laundering operation to come and explain the case to us in late April. A total of 24 suspects were arrested in two separate searches, and related evidence including servers, cell phones, bank accounts in mainland China, ATM cards, bank transfer slips, accounting books and staff information were seized. The case was transferred to the Kaohsiung District Prosecutor's Office for further investigation under the Money Laundering Control Act, the Banking Act and the Criminal Code of the Republic of China in relation to the offence of gambling.
\r\n\t\t- We found that the suspects had rented a server room, which was falsely claimed to be a Chunghwa Telecom server room and a Chunghwa Telecom outsourcing provider in order to conceal their illegal activities from the police. The suspects, Hong and others, used a large number of bank accounts in mainland China to launder money, hide or disguise the criminal money for illegal online gambling or fraud criminal groups. The task force is still investigating the flow of these funds.
\r\n\t\t- The Bureau urges that Chunghwa Telecom would not use private homes to set up server rooms. If a tenant claims that they are renting a private home under the name of Chunghwa Telecom, citizens should check with Chunghwa Telecom or call the 165 Fraud Hotline for verification. In addition, citizens are advised not to engage in or assist in money laundering crimes, and not to apply for bank accounts for criminal groups or unknown persons for the purpose of obtaining unlawful profits. The police will continue to investigate the ways in which money laundering crimes are committed, and to arrest and prosecute those who take chances and seek to make profits illegally.
\r\n\t
\r\n\t \r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\t- Investigators: CID of Royal Malaysian Police, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Malaysia, CID of Taipei City Police Department, CID of Navigation Police Bureau, International Criminal Affairs Divisions of Criminal Investigation Bureau, Police Contact Office in Malaysia
\r\n\t- Seizure Time: Apr. 1, 2021
\r\n\t- Location: Downtown Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
\r\n\t- Arrested Criminal: Hsu OOOOOO
\r\n\t- Seized Items and Evidence: None
\r\n\t- Brief Explanation of the Case:
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
(1)
\r\nWanted criminal Hsu committed the homicide of Detective Hsueh Chen-kuoof of the Xinyi Police Precinct, Taipei City Police Department on September 2014 in a gang fight in front of a nightclub. After being sentenced to 13 years of imprisonment Hsu did not show up to serve, therefore Taiwan Taipei District Prosecutors Office put out an APB on Hsu on Oct. 16, 2019. Under the collaboration of the joint investigation team constituted by Taipei City Police Department, Criminal Investigation Bureau and Navigation Police Bureau with the Malaysian police authority, Hsu was successfully arrested in Malaysia.
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
(2)
\r\nAccording to the investigation, Hsu smuggled to Mainland China before fleeing to Malaysia. Through our police liaison officer in Malaysia, the joint investigation team contacted the Malaysian police authority for the assistance of arresting Hsu. After months of investigation, Hsu was successfully arrested on Apr. 1 in a residence located in downtown Kuala Lumpur. Criminal Investigation Bureau sent personnel on Apr. 28 to escort Hsu back to Taiwan by plane and they arrived in Taiwan at 17:30 today (Apr. 28). Criminal Hsu will be escorted to the Taiwan Taipei District Prosecutors Office by the joint investigation team.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
(3)
\r\nThe Malaysian police authority dispatched numerous policemen in this action and assisted us in successive repatriation affairs. Last year (2020), the Malaysian police authority had assisted us in arresting and repatriating 6 fraud and drug wanted criminals. We hereby address our gratification. We will continue to collaborate with police authorities from friendly nations to counter international crimes in the future.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\t- Investigation Units: Taiwan Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office; International Criminal Affairs Division of Criminal Investigation Bureau; Police Liaison Team in Thailand, Kaohsiung City Police Department Gushan Precinct; Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau Taichung City Investigation Office; Southern Mobility Working Group, Coast Guard Administration; Ocean Affairs Council Taitung Investigation Team; Tianzhong Precinct, Changhua County Police Department; Zhongshan Precinct, Taipei City Police department; Railway Police Bureau, Criminal Investigation Division of National Police Agency
\r\n\t- Date of Seizure: Investigation and prosecution on November 11, 14 2020, March 11, 2021
\r\n\t- Location of Seizure: Taiwan High Speed Rail (Changhua Station); Changwat Phatthalun, Thailand.
\r\n\t- Suspects: Suspect G (U.K.), Huang○○, Zhan○○ (Taiwan) (3 persons in total)
\r\n\t- Confiscated Stolen Goods/Evidence: 2.14kg of heroin, 1 Clark Custom Gun, NT$100,000; intercepted 9.65kg of heroin at Changwat Phatthalun.
\r\n\t- Summary of Criminal Case:\r\n\t
\r\n\t\t- Despite the sudden decrease in international flights and passengers’ difficulty in entering and exiting the country during the pandemic period, cargo imports and exports have continued to increase drastically. Illegal drug smugglers smuggle drugs in air parcels during the pandemic period, which reduces the risk of drug smuggling on a person and instead concealed in the luggage. The Criminal Investigation Bureau’s (CIB) transnational collaboration in its crackdown on drug smuggling cases is not affected by the pandemic. The Bureau engages in information exchange with the Thai police. In addition to successfully intercepting 9.65kg of heroin from overseas on October 18, 2020, tracing suspect G, the British mail recipient in the country. On November 14, 2020, suspect G who smuggled 2.14kg of heroin concealed in an air parcel to Taiwan was successfully intercepted. Huang○○ and Zhan○○ who came to pick up the package were also arrested, one Clark Custom Gun was seized from Huang○○ who came to pick up the package.
\r\n\t\t- The CIB and Thailand’s Narcotics Suppression Bureau (NSB) have engaged in close cooperation. Through information exchange, heroin concealed in imported durian cake cans to be smuggled to Taiwan via air transport were seized in Changwat Phatthalun of southern Thailand, successfully intercepting 9.65kg of heroin from overseas. Since this batch of goods’ recipient is suspect G, a British national renting a house in Qianzhen District, Kaohsiung City, the CIB reported to Prosecutor Wang Chang-Hong from Taiwan Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office to lead the investigation.
\r\n\t\t- The CIB and the aforementioned investigation units have jointly formed a project team to handle the case. On November 14, 2020, it was found that suspect G immediately headed to the High Speed Rail Zhuoying Station upon receiving the international package and purchased a ticket to Changhua Station at the last moment. Because of his suspicious behavior, the project team and the Tianzhong Precinct, Changhua County Police Department went to the HSR Changhua Station and take investigative action. While trading the package, the buyers Huang and Zhan were successfully arrested with 17 packs of heroin concealed in the lady’s bag, totaling 2.14kg. Additionally, one Clark Custom Gun, six bullets and an illegal gain of NT$100,000 were seized from suspect Huang. The aforementioned suspects were then transferred to the Taiwan Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office after interrogations. The prosecutor’s application for approval of detention of the British national suspect G was granted.
\r\n\t\t- After the investigation, it was found that the British national suspect G originally lived in a country in Southeast Asia. He arrived in Taiwan in early February 2020. Due to the pandemic, he was granted an extended stay. It’s because of the sake of high rewards, he dance with the Devil, taking advantage of “less attention paid to the Europeans”, he helped with receiving packages in Taiwan for international trafficking groups and disposing of them in Taiwan. This time, through the cooperation and the close information exchange between the Taiwan and Thai police, 9.65kg of heroin were successfully intercepted. Moreover, through the tireless efforts of the domestic project team, 2.14kg of heroin were seized in Taiwan, timely intercepting the drug supply at the source. The investigation carried out by the Taiwan Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office ended on March 11 this year, prosecuting the aforementioned three suspects.
\r\n\t\t- Drugs are a crime in all countries. The International Criminal Affairs Division of Criminal Investigation Bureau once again reiterates its determination and belief in combating drug crimes through the joint efforts of law enforcement agencies in other countries. It shall continue to adhere by the government’s determination to fight drugs in line with international drug crackdown efforts. Adhering by the government’s determination to fight drugs and investigate and capture illicit drug trafficking, it strives to build a drug-free home with “zero tolerance for drug crimes".
\r\n\t
\r\n\t \r\n
\r\n
\r\n