CNA file photo

Taipei, June 28 (CNA) The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) recently detained three men for violating Taiwan's banking and futures trading acts by advertising a service trading future contracts without proper authorization from the government, according to the MJIB Thursday.

An investigation was launched after three investors filed a complaint with the MJIB on not receiving their promised returns and being unable to withdraw their original investment, the bureau said.

From October 2016, the three men and four others, who have not been detailed because of insufficient evidence, are believed to have raised funds by offering members of the public a three percent monthly return for every US$10,000 invested, MJIB personnel said.

However, the payment of returns to investors ended on Dec. 25, 2017, the bureau said, adding that at the time the men had collected more than NT$30 million.

As part of this investigation bureau investigators discovered that in August 2017, the suspects allegedly used Facebook to lure investors with guaranteed high returns on investments in futures contracts, reportedly attracting more than 100 investors and receiving investments totaling NT$100 million (US$3,270,228), MJIB personnel said.

The suspects have also been found to have channeled funds to Hong Kong and the authorities are investigating whether they have been dealing futures contracts in the Chinese special administrative region, bureau personnel said.

Because the men are not licensed to deal future contracts, advertising to do so and illegally collecting funds not only violates Taiwan's banking act but also the futures trading act, MJIB personnel added.

(By Kuo Chih-hsuan and William Yen)
Enditem/AW