讀後心得

Fraud crimes are becoming increasingly serious in Taiwan, with more and more people joining scam groups due to the temptation of high profits. There have even been cases involving prosecutors, judges, and lawyers. Investigations by the Criminal Investigation Bureau have found that at least 20 different white-collar professions are colluding with scam groups, forming a fraud industry chain, raising concerns that Taiwan could become a kingdom of scams. Traditionally, members of these scam groups have mostly belonged to the blue-collar class, but the substantial profits from fraud result in daily financial losses of up to 200 to 300 million NT dollars. The police are strengthening their crackdown on white-collar accomplices, including lawyers, bank employees, and media personnel, urging them to report themselves to the police to provide information about the scam groups. In recent cases uncovered, lawyers and community leaders collaborated to forge wills, defrauding around 150 million NT dollars, indicating that the fraud network has penetrated various industries.

Fraud crimes are increasingly rampant, with more and more people being lured into scam groups by the temptation of huge profits. There are even instances of a "mole" phenomenon, where police, judges, and lawyers may be involved. According to investigations by the Criminal Investigation Bureau, at least 20 different white-collar professions are currently colluding with scam groups, forming a complete fraud industry chain, raising concerns that if every industry falls prey, Taiwan will become a real kingdom of scams.

Traditional telecom fraud groups are mainly composed of financiers, telemarketers, holders of dummy accounts, and face-to-face operatives, with most members belonging to the blue-collar class. However, due to the astonishing profits from fraud, the daily financial losses across Taiwan reach as high as 200 to 300 million NTD, resulting in many industries colluding with fraud groups.

• According to recent police investigations, industries involved in fraud include, but are not limited to: law enforcement, the judiciary, bank employees, land administration officials, cryptocurrency dealers, pawn shops, gold and silver shops, finance companies, car dealerships, advertising agents, SMS service providers, media, website engineers, server providers, telecom operators, communication firms, shell companies, hackers, civil representatives, and online influencers.
• The Criminal Investigation Bureau has targeted white-collar accomplices based on money flow and telecommunications flow, viewing such individuals as "high-level" members within the fraud structure, and has intensified crackdowns.
• At the same time, they are urging these individuals to surrender and provide the police with information about the scam groups.

For example, the Taipei District Prosecutors Office once investigated a case in which a lawyer acted as a chief strategist for a fraud group, discovering that 16 lawyers colluded to monitor arrested operatives to prevent them from implicating other accomplices, and unearthed a judge suspected of hiding the fraud group's illicit money in the courthouse. Additionally, the Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office also uncovered that a prosecutor's lawyer boyfriend attempted to join a fraud group and encouraged his boyfriend to enter the scam circle.

The Criminal Investigation Bureau even cracked a "ground master" fraud case, where a village chief from New Taipei City conspired with the main suspect to forge a will to inherit real estate and savings, combining efforts with the village chief, civil representatives' assistants, notaries, and land administration officials, illegally querying personal data through police and household registration personnel, with lawyers conducting false verifications, resulting in fraudulent amounts totaling approximately 150 million NTD. Furthermore, the fraud group arranged for lawyers to calm the victims and continued to observe them. Once the victims' savings were drained, they were referred to legitimate asset companies for mortgage processing and offered commissions far exceeding the market rate.