Police have conducted raids on a money-counterfeiting ring in New Taipei City and detained six people who allegedly produced counterfeit banknotes with face values totaling NT$1.2 billion (US$40.4 million).
Police seized the bills, mostly with face values of NT$1,000, at the ring’s printing facility and other locations in the city and elsewhere.
Large amounts of counterfeit US dollar and yen banknotes were also found, Yunlin County Prosecutor Shih Chia-yong (施家榮) said.
Photo: CNA
Shih said the ring was headed by a man surnamed Liao (廖), who runs a store that sells props for magic tricks in the city.
Police arrested the 38-year-old ringleader, a print shop owner surnamed Lee (李), 58, and a graphic designer surnamed Hung (洪), 36, as well as people surnamed Chang (張), Huang (黃) and Chu (朱), Shih said.
Hung was originally involved in the production of toy money, which enabled him to produce close replicas of NT$1,000 bills for fraudulent purposes, Shih said.
The raids were coordinated by prosecutors in Yunlin, and involved police units based in New Taipei City and elsewhere, as well as judicial investigators, Shih said.
The prosecutors’ efforts enabled law enforcement officers to simultaneously raid 18 locations, including in New Taipei City, Taipei, Yunlin and Kaohsiung, Shih said.
Investigators questioned 20 people who were allegedly involved in the ring, Shih said.
Prosecutors said the six suspects might be charged with contravening the Penal Act of Offenses Against National Currency (妨害國幣懲治條例) and Article 195 of the Criminal Code.
Prosecutors quoted Liao as saying that he came up with the idea to counterfeit money after hearing about scammers using toy money for transactions at local markets in December last year.
Shih said Liao then hired Hung and they began working on improving the quality of the toy money offered at Liao’s shop, including changing “Toy Bank” to “Central Bank” as the “issuer” of the bills.
Prosecutors got a tipoff from a taxi driver in Yunlin, who helped them identify a person who paid for a ride with a counterfeit NT$1,000 bill, Shih said, adding that it enabled them to investigate the fake bill’s provenance.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,912) for advertisements that exceed its approved business scope, requiring the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license may be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter enforcement of Chinese e-commerce platforms and measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan in response to US President Donald Trump’s heavy tariffs on China. The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee met today to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) said
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,900) for advertisements that exceeded its approved business scope and ordered the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license would be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter supervision of Chinese e-commerce platforms and more stringent measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan as US President Donald Trump’s administration cracks down on origin laundering. The legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday met to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report on the matter. Democratic Progressive Party
RSS