Taipei prosecutors yesterday indicted nine people who allegedly trafficked 88 young adults to work for Cambodia-based fraud rings.
Starting in November last year, the nine people received up to US$18,000 per person recruited, who were in two separate groups, prosecutors said.
The recruiters used Facebook to target young adults who were unemployed or had financial problems, offering them high-paying jobs at casinos or gaming clubs, prosecutors said, adding that the jobs that were promised were in Sihanoukville, Cambodia.
Photo: CNA
People duped by the scams were held against their will after they arrived in Sihanoukville and were forced to engage in phone scam operations, prosecutors said.
Those who did not perform satisfactorily were beaten, shocked or enslaved, they said.
They were also threatened with being buried alive, stories of people having their organs harvested or being transported to another place to face even worse conditions, the indictment said.
At least 88 people were trafficked by the two groups, including 18 who were rescued and have returned to Taiwan, prosecutors said.
The two groups received US$17,000 to US$18,000 for each person sent to Cambodia, prosecutors said.
Police arrested one group of three led by a man surnamed Lin (林) on May 5 and another group of six led by a man surnamed Lee (李) on July 5, and a court granted a request by prosecutors to detain six of them incommunicado.
The nine suspects were indicted on multiple counts of human trafficking, attempted fraud, interference with personal freedom and involvement in organized crime, prosecutors said.
In related news, two people surnamed Chen (陳) and Fu (傅) were arrested and questioned by prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday for suspected involvement in a separate human trafficking ring.
The two suspects were originally arrested in Taipei last month on suspicion of trafficking 20 people — some of whom live in Hualien County — to Cambodia for telecom fraud operations.
The cases were investigated by Hualien prosecutors and the suspects were released on bail on Thursday.
Prosecutors in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋) said that they acquired new information on the two men after they were released and arrested them yesterday. They were still being questioned as of yesterday afternoon.
The New Taipei City case is separate from the Hualien case.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS