Taiwan duo jailed for cop impersonation scam
Two Taiwanese men were jailed yesterday for their role in police impersonation scams, in which victims were conned into handing over up to $185,000 after believing they were involved in money laundering and other serious offences.
Hsieh Teng-Chia, 31, was jailed for two years and nine months and Chen You-Jeng, 34, for three years. Each had pleaded guilty last month to one count of dealing with the benefits of criminal activities.
Two of their fellow Taiwanese syndicate members have also been arrested. Huang Ying-Chun, 53, has been dealt with in court, while the case involving Chen Peng-Yu, 35, is still pending.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Ryan Lim said that between June 15 and July 6 last year, the victims received phone calls from people claiming to be police officers in China or Singapore.
"These callers convinced the victims and other involved parties that they were involved in money laundering or other serious offences, which were being investigated in China," he said.
The victims were conned into providing their bank account details, which the scammers used to withdraw money. Other parties were pressured into acting as mules, withdrawing money transferred to their accounts and handing the cash to the Taiwanese in Singapore.
Hsieh's role started early last year after Chen You-Jeng recruited him, promising him about NTD$75,000 (S$3,350) for a month's work.
The duo arrived in Singapore on July 5 last year and received instructions through messaging app Telegram. That same day, $10,000 was transferred from a victim to the bank account of a mule, who handed the money to Huang in Geylang Lorong 17.
Huang left the money in the toilet of a Geylang Lorong 12 eatery. Hsieh then transferred it to the toilet of a Geylang Lorong 10 coffee shop, where Chen Peng-Yu collected it.
A similar method was used in three other incidents in other locations over the next two days. The total sum in the four cases was $185,000.No restitution has been made.
Police statistics show that cases involving scammers claiming to be China officials jumped more than 200 per cent, from 58 cases in the first six months of last year to 182 cases in the same period this year.
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