Singaporean man, 22, travels to Taiwan to work for scam syndicate, gets arrested when collecting $40k from victim

Lured by the offer of a job promising high renumeration for low risk and minimal effort tasks, a Singaporean man travelled to Taiwan to be a runner for a scam syndicate.

The 22-year-old man surnamed Ye was busted by Taiwan police during a deal with a scam victim, reported local media.

In a press release on Tuesday (Nov 19), Yilan County police said the 46-year-old female victim had lost NT$1.22 million ($50,300) to an online investment scam operated by the syndicate.

She was reportedly tricked into joining a LINE chat group operated by fraudsters posing as investment consultants after chancing upon a Facebook advertisement.

After agreeing to hand over another NT$1 million to the group, the woman then grew suspicious of why her previous 'investments' were not making any 'profit', and made a police report.

Leveraging on the agreed meeting, officers successfully arrested Ye at a local convenience store and seized fake contracts, work permits, receipts and NT$1 million in cash. A pink Singapore IC was also seized.

Ye told the police that he had joined the Taiwanese syndicate as he was short of money.

The man was transferred to the Yilan District Prosecutors Office on suspicion of fraud, and the authorities are continuing efforts to trace the syndicate.

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lim.kewei@asiaone.com