An insidious telecom centre set up to defraud Chinese residents living in Portugal has been foiled in what the Taiwanese press calls âthe Portuguese holiday resort of Cascaisâ.
Reports say the call-centre was set up by Taiwan nationals who recruited young people âmostly in financial troubleâ to work out of Portugal âa European member country which allows Taiwanese citizens to enter without a visaâ.
In little more than a week, these staff members had managed to extort 86,000 euros from their victims by pretending to be officials working for China (either police, or criminal prosecutors).
The message was that victimsâ phones had been identified as being responsible for âspamâ (unsolicited online messages) and that their bank accounts would be frozen unless they paid fines.
Says Observador, this was the first case of cooperation between authorities in Taiwan and counterparts in Portugal.
All but one of those arrested has agreed to be tried in Taiwan.
Observador adds that in other fraud cases, Taiwanese nationals have been deported to mainland China for trial âsomething that has caused Taiwanese authorities to protestâ, as Taiwan is not officially part of the Peopleâs Republic.
