A months-long investigation into a suspected sexual predator has yielded a large volume of computer files and videos of hundreds of victims aged 10 to 70, Tainan police said yesterday.
Before his arrest in August, the 41-year-old suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was working as a video editor and photographer for a commercial ad agency, police said.
Chang had since 2017 used fake names on video-chatting sites and social media apps to lure women by offering them “modeling jobs,” which turned out to be naked photo and video sessions, they said.
After receiving tip-offs, policed tracked down Chang’s IP address and monitored his online activities before conducting a raid in August and apprehending him at his residence in Taoyuan.
The investigation is ongoing, and Chang is under judicial detention as he is facing pending charges of violating personal privacy and breaches of the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act (兒童及少年性剝削防制條例), along with fraud, blackmail, coercion and offenses against sexual morality (妨害風化罪), for allegedly distributing and selling sexually explicit videos online for profit.
One complaint came from woman in Tainan earlier this year, who said she was invited for a photography session with the promise of a modeling job.
During a live chat, the woman said Chang asked her to undress. Feeling that something was wrong, she reported the incident to local authorities, prompting police investigators and prosecutors to start an investigation.
Tainan police officials this past week put out a public message for other victims to come forward, saying they have only found five people who are willing to testify and present evidence against Chang.
“We ask victims to contact and help us with the investigation. We shall ensure that your name and personal information are protected, and that videos and photographs of victims will be kept out of the public eye. Your assistance is needed for justice to be served through the conviction of the offender and to help other victims,” officials said.
The case has been compared to the “Nth Room” blackmail and cybersex trafficking case in South Korea from 2018 to 2020, in which several suspects used chat sites and social media apps to record and sell sexually explicit videos online. Three main offenders were sentenced to 30 to 40 years in prison.
Investigators alleged that Chang had posed online as a woman, a female photographer or an ad agency manager. Using his knowledge at work, he would tell his prospective targets about ad agencies looking for models, offering them up to NT$3,500 per hour, asking them detailed personal information and telling them to undress when their guard was down while he recorded them.
If the woman hesitated, he would blackmail or threaten to circulate the videos to their school, family and friends, and post them on Facebook for public viewing, police said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
RSS