The Changhua District Court has ruled in favor of a plaintiff seeking NT$17.85 million (US$543,818) in compensation in a fraud case and ordered the defendant to pay the sum demanded, it said in a statement on Friday.
The court said it made the decision as a part of a supplementary civil case that was attached to a criminal case about a financial scam.
Between Aug. 17 and Sept. 15 last year, a Changhua man, surnamed Lin (林), was scammed into making 22 wire transfers totaling NT$17.85 million.
Photo: Taipei Times
Lin was apparently told by scammers that he was a suspect in a criminal case and had to transfer the money to the designated accounts to make it possible for the “authorities” to investigate.
After realizing that he was being scammed, Lin reported the case to Changhua police, who started a criminal investigation.
Changhua prosecutors and the police eventually tracked down a man, surnamed Chang (張), who was found to have provided four bank accounts into which Lin had transferred funds.
After Changhua prosecutors indicted Chang on criminal charges related to the scam, Lin filed a civil case against Chang in a bid to get his money back.
During the hearing of the cases, which were tried together, Chang argued that he lent the accounts to former colleagues who had asked for his help in making their own accounts look more presentable.
Chang said he was unaware that his former coworkers were members of a scam syndicate who used his accounts for illegal acts.
However, as Chang was unable to prove his story, the court said the judge did not take Chang’s testimony into account.
According to the official ruling, the judge found that Chang had violated the law by engaging in a scam, but said there was no evidence that he had assisted a scamming syndicate of three or more people.
The judge apparently reached the decision that Chang had violated the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法), because of the large number of bank accounts Chang had provided for others to be able to reap illicit gains from just one victim.
On Dec. 19, the Changhua District Court sentenced Chang to six months in prison.
The court also ruled in favor of Lin’s civil case against Chang the same day and ordered the defendant to pay NT$17.85 million to the plaintiff.
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
HOLIDAY EXERCISE: National forest recreation areas from north to south offer travelers a wide choice of sights to connect with nature and enjoy its benefits Hiking is a good way to improve one’s health, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said, as it released a list of national forest recreation areas that travelers can visit during the Lunar New Year holiday. Taking a green shower of phytoncides in the woods could boost one’s immunity system and metabolism, agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) cited a Japanese study as saying. For people visiting northern Taiwan, Lin recommended the Dongyanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興). Once an important plantation in the north, Dongyanshan (東眼山) has a number of historic monuments, he said. The area is broadly covered by
COMMUNITY SPIRIT: As authorities were busy with post-typhoon cleanups elsewhere, residents cleaned fallen leaves and cut small fallen trees blocking the hiking trails All hiking trails damaged by Typhoon Kong-rey have been repaired and has reopened for people who want a refreshing hike in Taipei during the Lunar New Year holiday, a city official said. The Taipei Basin is known for its easily accessible hiking trails. It has more than 130 trails combined into the 92km-long Taipei Grand Trail, which was divided into seven major routes when it was launched by the Taipei City Government in 2018. Last year, a part of the sixth route of the Grand Trail collapsed due to Typhoon Kong-rey, which hit Taiwan in October. The damaged section belongs to one
RSS