Authorities in New Taipei City and Kaohsiung on Wednesday said they had raided illegal operations involving investment fraud, online gambling and money laundering.
Police arrested seven suspects working from a commercial building in New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang District (新莊), including the alleged head of an investment fraud operation surnamed Kuo (郭).
Kuo, 25, and his group allegedly created a cryptocurrency and futures investment app, which they advertised to members of the public and operated without a license, police said.
Photo: Chiu Chun-fu, Taipei Times
Police said they raided the building last week.
They estimated that more than 100 people using the app lost a combined NT$10 million (US$348,371).
Kuo and six other suspects admitted to making illegal profits, police said.
Prosecutors are planning to press charges, including fraud and engaging in organized criminal activities, police said.
Separately, authorities in Kaohsiung said they had captured suspected members of an online gambling ring, allegedly headed by a man surnamed Chuang (莊).
They detained 12 suspects in a raid in the city’s Sinsing District (新興) on Tuesday, they said.
The Kaohsiung Police Department at a news conference on Wednesday presented items and evidence seized in the raid, including 12 computers, more than 100 mobile phones, routers and telecommunications devices.
Chuang allegedly started running gambling Web sites in September last year, offering illegal bets on sports events in China and European soccer, especially the top divisions in Spain and England, police said.
Chuang and the other alleged ring members promoted their business on Chinese social media, investigators said.
Police estimated that more than 1,000 Chinese placed bets, with a combined stake of about NT$160 million.
National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Chen Chia-chin (陳家欽) said the two investigations are part of an initiative against organized crime that has so far led to the breakup of 67 alleged criminal rings, arrests of 481 suspects and the confiscation of about NT$50 million in cash.
The nationwide crackdown was initiated after police noticed a rising number of cases of investment fraud amid a red-hot stock and cryptocurrency market, NPA officials said.
Many cases also involved money laundering and illegal asset transfers to overseas destinations, the officials said.
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