Around seven reporters, who were part of the press corps traveling with President Chen Shui-bian (
After the incident was reported yesterday in a Chinese-language newspaper, Presidential Office spokesman Chen Wen-tsung (
"President Chen said he would personally pay for losses incurred by the reporters if the improper transactions could not be canceled," he said.
PHOTO: LIAO CHEN-HUEI, TAIPEI TIMES
Taiwan has asked the government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines for help in investigating the incident, Chen Wen-tsung said.
As of yesterday, seven of 40 reporters on the tour had reported irregularities with their credit-card accounts. All transactions are thought to have taken place at Roy's Inn, the hotel the reporters were staying in on Sept. 29.
Because credit-card companies have different bill-closing schedules, other reporters in the group were not able to say whether they were also victims of the alleged fraud.
"It's estimated that the loss will amount to tens of thousands of NT dollars ... but the exact amount is yet to be calculated," the spokesman said.
The problem was first discovered by Kuo Chiung-li (郭瓊俐), a staff reporter with the China Times Express. She said her credit-card company told her by text message of five transactions in the country, which made her suspicious.
"Although I used the credit card when I checked into the hotel, I paid cash for the room. I kept receiving text messages over the following days after leaving St. Vincent and the Grenadines, which was very unusual. Then I checked with the credit-card company after coming back to Taiwan," she said.
Presidential Office staffers were housed in different hotels while in the country, and no other incidents of fraud have been reported.
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