Criminal Investigation Bureau takes fraud group into custody

[WildestDreams]

Criminal Investigation Bureau takes fraud group into custody

By Katherine Wei ,The China Post
December 11, 2013, 12:30 am TWN

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) yesterday arrested a suspect accused of acquiring over NT$240 million via fraudulent means.

According to the CIB, the suspect, surnamed Lee, had been hiding out in Thailand to avoid Taiwanese authorities. After successfully encouraging many civilians to invest in his company, “Sheng Shih Ta (盛事達),” Lee fled the country with the investment funds, having cheated over a hundred people out of money before leaving for Thailand with the huge sum, said the CIB.

Lee's lies began four years ago, when he started up his investment fraud scheme along with accomplices surnamed Gai and Tung. Claiming that his company's factory had been achieving profits in Thailand but needed funds to support further development, Lee approached potential investors for funding and pressed their families and friends to invest as well. Asking for NT$100,000 apiece, Lee promised the investors that each would reap profits of NT$5,000 per month and left for Thailand in March 2012.

By the time the investors realized that Lee had bluffed them, the company was no longer in operation.

Lee was suspected of using a Dutch passport while staying in Thailand in order to avoid arrest, but was finally captured by an alliance of local and Thai police forces, said the CIB. Although Lee claimed that he was not guilty of fraud and that he had lost the funding because his company had languished in the red, the CIB nevertheless plans to conduct further investigations in the case.