5 arrested on suspicion of money laundering via virtual accounts

Taipei, July 17 (CNA) The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said Thursday it had smashed a money laundering ring and arrested five people suspected of using e-commerce platforms to conceal the flow of about NT$30 billion (US$1.02 billion) in illicit funds over a one-year period.

The CIB raid and arrests followed an investigation of suspicious financial flows, facilitated by illegal third-party payment providers and a gambling syndicate, CIB official Huang Wei-ho (黃維和) said at a news conference.

A special task force, led by prosecutors from the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, found that a suspected money laundering ring was using illegal third-party payment companies and e-commerce platforms to apply to banks for unlimited virtual accounts, he said.

Those accounts were then linked to gambling websites, allowing bettors to top up and place bets, Huang said, adding that the suspected ring leader was a 45-year-old man surnamed Lee (李).

After Lee and his accomplices set up two illegal third-party payment firms, they established two companies and told the banks that they were operating two e-commerce platforms, Huang said.

The two platforms did list actual products, allowing the suspects to apply for virtual account services under the pretense of conducting legitimate online sales, the CIB found, according to Huang.

They simulated online shopping to mask their illegal transactions and obtained numerous virtual accounts through the e-commerce platforms, linking them to the gambling websites with an application programming interface (API), he said.

When users wanted to top up their gambling accounts, a dedicated virtual account would automatically be generated, according to Huang. Bettors could then transfer money directly into that account, completing the top-up process instantly, he said.

The money laundering ring was essentially providing "real-time payment services" for the gambling syndicate, Huang said.

Since those virtual account services could be mass-produced on demand, they not only boosted the efficiency of illegal fund transfers but also helped evade financial supervision and police tracking, which significantly complicated the CIB investigation, he added.

From December 2023 to March 2025, Lee and his associates helped online gambling sites collect at least NT$30 billion in gambling funds, according to Huang.

Over that period, the gambling syndicate made a profit of about NT$3 billion from the scheme, while Lee personally raked in approximately NT$15 million by charging a handling fee of 0.3 percent to 0.5 percent, Huang said.

After months of surveillance and investigation, the CIB task force launched a coordinated raid of the two third-party payment companies on March 13 and arrested five suspects, including Lee, the CIB official said.

Authorities also seized a house, a Mercedes-Benz that was being used in the operation, and NT$66.08 million held in bank accounts, he said.

In June, the five suspects were handed over to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office on charges that included fraud and money laundering, Huang said.

Lee has been remanded in custody, and investigators are seeking to identify the mastermind behind the gambling syndicate, according to Huang.