3 suspects indicted for illegal foreign currency exchange operations

Taipei, Jan. 23 (CNA) Three people suspected of engaging in illegal foreign currency exchange operations have been indicted for violations of domestic banking law by the Chiayi District Prosecutors Office.

The suspects, identified by their surbnames Liu (劉), Lin (林) and Hung (洪), were indicted on Jan. 16 for involvement in carrying out foreign currency exchanges operations, which only banks are allowed to conduct in Taiwan under the provisions of the Banking Act, according to the indictment document.

The 40-year-old Liu and Lin, 39, were previously married, but the two divorced in August 2019.

In order to avoid unwanted attention from the authorities, Liu and her ex-husband set up several accounts with the popular e-commerce platform Shopee in May 2019 to carry out their illegal foreign currency exchange service, prosecutors said.

The two advertised items included tutorials on topping up the balance for Alipay, a Chinese mobile payment app. In this way, they sought out people in Taiwan who wanted to buy Chinese yuan online but with a lower exchange rate, contacting them through a private chat feature on Shopee or WeChat for more details.

WeChat is a Chinese instant messaging, social media, and mobile payment app developed by Tencent.

Through those interactions, prosecutors said customers would then be informed about the rate as well as the handling fee for the exchange service, and if they agreed, Liu and Lin placed a customized order for them to pay in New Taiwan dollars.

The suspects' Chinese contacts, whose identities the office did not mention, would then transfer Chinese yuan directly to the customers' designated accounts, whether Alipay, WeChat or bank savings accounts in China.

From May 2019 to mid-June 2022, Liu and Lin allegedly exchanged about NT$340 million (US$10.36 million), and earned approximately NT$5.6 million in handling fees, prosecutors said.

The suspects later recruited Hung to join their illegal foreign currency exchange scheme.

According to Chiayi prosecutors, Liu was previously indicted for engaging in a similar crime in 2019, sentenced by a court to a jail term of 22 months, suspended for three years and ordered to pay NT$50,000 to the national treasury.

However, she showed no remorse and continued to engage in illegal activities, prosecutors said, recommending to the court that she should receive a harsher punishment.