Police over the weekend warned that human traffickers are using foreign brides and fake marriage citizenship deals to lure victims to Southeast Asia.
Other trafficking ploys involve offering people high-paying jobs overseas, but men are now being promised money to go to Thailand to marry a local woman, or to marry someone to gain citizenship, National Police Agency (NPA) officials said on Saturday.
One recent case led to the arrest of four people who face human trafficking and unlawful confinement charges, officials said, adding that they are allegedly members of a ring running the new foreign bride scam.
Victims are imprisoned and forced to work for online scammers, while organ harvesting is another risk, officials said.
A 32-year-old man surnamed Wang (王) said that he signed up last year to go to Thailand after seeing advertisements promising to match single men with young Thai women who were willing to marry them and live in Taiwan.
“I was told that even if I do not find any suitable brides, I could then enter into a fake marriage ... and get paid NT$150,000 as a reward,” said Wang, adding that this is a way for foreigners to obtain Taiwanese citizenship.
Wang said he flew to Chiang Mai, Thailand, in November last year, and was abducted by three muscular men after exiting the airport.
He said he was confined and then shoved into a car, which headed into the countryside toward Thailand’s border with Myanmar.
When he reached the border, he shouted and struggled, creating a commotion, and as the men did not want trouble, they dumped him and drove away, Wang said.
He said he then asked the Thai authorities for help.
Wang contacted a friend who has connections in Thailand, and they arranged a car to transport him back to Bangkok, where he stayed to receive other assistance, before returning to Taiwan in December last year, he said.
After returning home, Wang gave the authorities the name of the woman, surnamed Liao (廖), who used Facebook and other social media to circulate the foreign bride advertisements.
Police arrested Liao, 47, and three men in Taipei and Taoyuan, officials said.
Liao is an Indonesian who had married and settled in Taiwan, while the three men, surnamed Chen (陳), Huang (黃) and Hsu (許), were working for her, they said.
While being questioned, Liao said she was offered a reward of NT$250,000 for each person brought to Thailand, and was told to target single Taiwanese men aged between 30 and 40 by enticing them with photographs of young, good-looking women from Southeast Asian countries.
The NPA said this is connected to criminal groups operating Cambodian online scams.
The criminals bribe Thai customs officers to get their victims across the border, an official said.
People are advised to download the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ “Travel Safety Guidance” (旅外安全指南) free mobile phone app, the NPA said in a news release.
“If you get into danger when overseas, the first thing to do is to contact Taiwan’s official representative or consular office in the country, which can then start to coordinate a rescue effort,” the NPA 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 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as