Twelve people — including the alleged head of a scam ring — were on Monday indicted on suspicion of using fake base stations to send mobile SMS spam to commit credit card fraud, the Yunlin District Prosecutors’ Office said.
The suspects, including 31-year-old alleged ring leader identified by his last name, Kuo (郭), were indicted on charges related to organized crime, document forgery and aggravated fraud for financial gain, prosecutors said in a statement on Monday.
The Yunlin office said a probe was launched last year when one of its prosecutors, Huang Wei-chieh (黃薇潔), received reports of several people falling prey to credit card fraud. The investigation led to the arrest of Kuo and 11 other suspects in November and December last year.
Photo courtesy of the Yunlin District Prosecutors’ Office
Kuo purchased fake base stations in China that allow him and the other suspects to transmit phishing SMS messages to trick people into giving away their credit card information.
Kuo was arrested near the Mass Rapid Transit Zhongshan Station in Taipei on Nov. 18 last year with investigators finding equipment the group uses for scamming people in his vehicle, prosecutors said.
Kuo would drive around MRT stations where there are normally a lot of people, and get cellphone users to click on phishing Web sites through text messages saying their automatic billing debit for the highway toll ticket system (eTag) had failed and required them to fill in their credit card details.
The suspects then used the information to purchase jewelry and electronic products at shopping malls, Yunlin head prosecutor Chu Chi-jen (朱啟仁) said.
At least 30 people had their credit card details stolen by the ring, resulting in about NT$1.3 million (US$42,658), in unauthorized transactions, Chu said.
The National Communications Commission (NCC) called on the public to be wary if they notice a sudden fluctuation in mobile signal or it suddenly switches to 2G.
When this happens, it could be due to tampering by a fake base station, the NCC said on Friday, urging the public not to click on links that come with suspicious messages.
Telecommunication operators have already been notified to report to the NCC and the Criminal Investigation Bureau if they detect any anomalies in signal transmission, a commission official said.
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