Two people involved in a fraud case are sentenced to prison terms

• By Hsu Kuo-chen and William Hetherington / Journalist, with the editor

A Taichung man and woman have been sentenced for their involvement in a fraud case that claimed 117 victims in Canada, the United States and other countries.

Six people were arrested last year, including a 38-year-old man named Huang (黃) and a 35-year-old woman named Hsieh (謝), when officers from the Criminal Investigation Corps of the Tokyo Police Department Taichung City searched a property in the city. Beitun District (北屯).

Police found computers and cellphones at the property where the suspects allegedly engaged in fraud targeting overseas Chinese, according to Taichung District Court documents.

Huang and Hsieh allegedly pretended to be members of a telecommunications company, falsely claiming that the victim's phone number had been used for criminal activities in China and that they would help them report the matter to the Public Security Bureau Chinese, according to an investigation.

They would then make a second phone call posing as a Chinese officer, who would say the victim was suspected of being involved in money laundering and that their assets would be frozen.

Hsieh also hired a 33-year-old college graduate named Chen (陳), who speaks fluent English, to speak to the victims in English to legitimize their claims that they represent a large telecommunications company, according to the documents.

Hsieh had already served eight years for fraud and joined Huang shortly after his release from prison to commit fraud again, police said.

Hsieh and Chen were sentenced to six and three years in prison, respectively, for their involvement in the case.

During the raid, Hsieh and Huang attempted to destroy evidence and threw phones out of windows, police said, adding that they allegedly defrauded people out of a total of NT$10 million.

The court has not yet ruled on Huang's case.