Woman ordered to pay millions in civil damages for role in scam

Taipei, Dec. 25 (CNA) A woman has been ordered by the Chiayi District Court to pay NT$13.97 million (US$444,347) in civil damages for selling her mobile phone number to scammers who used it to defraud the man who filed suit.

The verdict can be appealed.

According to a civil judgment issued by the court on Dec. 19, the woman, surnamed Liao (廖), signed up for a mobile phone number at a telecom store in Chiayi and sold the SIM card to a man who went by the name Chuang Chung-hsin (莊中信) on Aug. 10, 2024.

Chuang's true identity and age are unknown, and it is unclear how the two met, whether Liao knew he was a scammer, or why she sold the phone number, which she did for NT$300.

After obtaining the SIM card, members of the scam ring used it on Aug. 19, 2024 to call a victim, surnamed Huang (黃), impersonating police officers and financial regulators.

Huang was led to believe that his bank account had suspicious transactions and that he needed to cooperate, and under the scammers' instructions, he transferred a total of NT$13.97 million to unknown accounts between August and October 2024, the court said.

Although Liao did not carry out the fraud herself, the mobile number she sold to Chuang was used to contact the victim, the court said, and that by providing the number, she had in effect assisted the scammers.

After a police investigation, Liao was prosecuted and found guilty of assisting in fraud. In July this year, she was sentenced to 50 days of detention, which can be converted to a fine at a rate of NT$1,000 per day.

Huang later filed a civil lawsuit seeking damages.

The information released by the Chiayi court did not mention further details about Chuang or whether the fraud ring has been dismantled.