4 indicted in Taichung for scamming Chinese out of NT$200m

Taichung, Feb. 2 (CNA) Taiwan's prosecutors have indicted four members of a Taichung-based cyber fraud ring that used deepfake technology to scam around NT$200 million (US$6.33 million) from at least 55 Chinese nationals, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said Monday.

The Taichung District Prosecutors Office filed the indictment against the four individuals last November on charges of violating the Fraud Crime Prevention Act, the Organized Crime Prevention Act, and the Computer-Related Offenses Act, the CIB said in a statement.

According to the CIB, the Taichung scammers worked with a fraud gang in China to acquire the personal information of Chinese nationals online.

Using the stolen identities, the Taichung ring was able to create videos using the likeness of Chinese victims through deepfake technology that were then used on China's digital renminbi (e-CNY) mobile banking applications, the CIB said.

The bureau explained that the deepfake faces were used to gain access to the e-CNY banking accounts of users and transfer funds.

Authorities began an operation to dismantle the ring after receiving a tip-off in mid 2024.

Police then focused on a man, surnamed Lu (盧), who rented a unit in Taichung's Beitun District as a base for the scam operation with two other unnamed individuals.

In November 2024, the investigation discovered that the ring was financed by a 34-year-old man, surnamed Lin (林), who was at the time in Thailand.

Other than the deepfake crime, the CIB said the ring also created social media accounts to be sold to fraud factories operating outside Taiwan.

Lin was arrested in Thailand in May 2025 and repatriated to Taiwan in June that same year, the police said, adding that the three accomplices in Taiwan were detained from November 2024 to June 2025, with authorities seizing over NT$120,000 in cash, 320 smartphones and six computers.

Citing the CIB's fifth cybercrime division, the United Daily News reported Monday that the case marks the first time a fraud ring using Starlink and deepfake technology has been uncovered in Taiwan.

So far, no Taiwanese have been identified as victims, the report said, adding that the bureau has shared the case information with the Financial Supervisory Commission to prevent fraudsters from using similar techniques to target Taiwanese people.