Taipei: 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.
According to Focus Taiwan, the Taipei District Prosecutors Office revealed that the group, led by a man surnamed Huang and his wife, surnamed Hsu, divided its operations into several teams: "lead generation," "new customers," "public relations," and "returning customers." The scam began in 2022 with the lead-generation team creating profiles on dating apps using photos and names of women, including members of the group's public relations team, to attract potential victims.
Those expressing interest in these profiles were forwarded to the new-customer team. Members of this team posed as women from the group's public relations team, engaging victims in online chats. The team persuaded victims to buy products priced around NT$1,000-2,000, such as fish oil, Antrodia cinnamomea, and power banks, under the pretense of helping the women meet sales targets.
Victims were then moved to the cultivation team, who continued the deception by cultivating romantic relationships while posing as the women. Once relationships were established, victims were asked to buy or give gifts like phones, air purifiers, and hair dryers.
Women from the public relations team would sometimes meet victims in person for dates, which occasionally led to sexual encounters. They collected cash, phones, appliances, and other gifts, which were returned to the group. The returning-customer team maintained communication with victims to solicit money for living expenses, medical bills, and cosmetic surgery debts, as well as payments for beauty and tattooing courses from businesses run by associates.
An engineer, surnamed Chung, developed AI voice-changing software enabling the group to impersonate women from the public relations team during phone calls with victims. The leaders of the scam held monthly review meetings, where members who failed to meet performance targets faced physical punishments, including being electrocuted with fly swatters, sodomized with foreign objects, and coerced into performing sex acts.
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.