57 indicted over NT$900 million voice-cloning romance scam

Taipei, Sept. 2 (CNA) Prosecutors in Taipei on Wednesday indicted 57 people in connection with a sophisticated romance scam that allegedly defrauded more than 20,000 people out of at least NT$900 million (US$28.32 million) using voice-cloning technology.

In a statement, the Taipei District Prosecutors Office said the group, led by a man surnamed Huang (黃) and his wife, surnamed Hsu (許), divided its operations into several teams: "lead generation," "new customers," "public relations" and "returning customers."

Beginning in 2022, the lead-generation team created profiles on dating apps using photos and names of women, including members of the group's public relations team, to attract potential victims, prosecutors said.

According to prosecutors, those expressing an interest in the profiles were then passed to the new-customer team, whose members posed as women from the group's public relations team in online chats with victims.

Prosecutors said that the new-customer team persuaded victims to buy products priced at around NT$1,000-2,000, including fish oil, Antrodia cinnamomea and power banks, under the guise of helping the women meet sales targets.

Victims were then passed to members of the cultivation team, who continued communicating with them while posing as the women and cultivated romantic relationships, prosecutors added.

Once a relationship had been established, the victims were asked to buy or give gifts, including phones, air purifiers and hair dryers, prosecutors said.

Women from the public relations team would meet victims in person for dates, sometimes having sex with them, and collect cash, phones, appliances and other gifts, which were returned to the group, prosecutors said.

The returning-customer team, which continued communicating with victims while posing as the women, then solicited money for living expenses, medical bills and cosmetic surgery debts, as well as payments for beauty and tattooing courses from businesses run by associates, prosecutors said.

According to prosecutors, an engineer, surnamed Chung (鐘), developed AI voice-changing software that allowed members of the group to impersonate women from the public relations team during phone calls with the victims.

The ring's leaders held monthly review meetings, where members who failed to meet performance targets were subjected to physical punishments, including being electrocuted with fly swatters, sodomized with foreign objects and coerced into performing sex acts, prosecutors said.

The defendants were indicted on charges under the Fraud Crime Hazard Prevention Act, the Money Laundering Control Act and Criminal Code provisions covering internet fraud committed by three or more people.

Prosecutors are seeking sentences of at least 25 years for Huang and 18 years for Hsu.

(By Lin Chang-shun and Evelyn Kao)

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