JOB SCAM/Crime ring leader gets 18 years for trafficking 88 victims to Cambodia
04/13/2023 10:01 PM

Taipei, April 13 (CNA) The leader of a Taiwanese criminal gang that trafficked 88 victims into forced labor in Cambodia has been sentenced to 18 years in prison, according to the Taipei District Court.

In a ruling issued on Thursday, the court said it had sentenced Lee Chen-hao (李振豪) to 18 years imprisonment and eight of his accomplices to prison terms ranging from 11 to 16.5 years, while also confiscating over NT$3.6 million (US$118,000) in illicit gains.

According to the verdict, members of the ring began posting ads on Facebook in November 2021 offering high-paying, Cambodia-based jobs in customer service for gaming and gambling websites.

After the victims arrived in Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville and other locations, members of local criminal organizations took their passports and forced them to work in telecom scam networks, or pay large ransoms to return to Taiwan.

Those who refused to work or did not meet their performance targets would be beaten, locked in solitary confinement, or even sold to other criminal gangs, the verdict said.

According to prosecutors, Lee and his accomplices ultimately trafficked 88 Taiwanese people to Cambodia, receiving between US$17,000 and US$18,000 for each victim from Cambodian criminal organizations.

Taiwanese authorities rescued 22 of the victims last year and another 30 since then, and based on their testimony, prosecutors filed indictments against Lee and his eight co-conspirators in September 2022 and January 2023.

During the trial, four of the defendants, including Lee, denied any wrongdoing, while the other five admitted to some of the allegations against them.

The court said it had found all nine defendants guilty of human trafficking, directing or taking part in organized crime, and profiting by fraudulently causing another person to leave the Republic of China.

Their sentences, however, varied based on the extent of their involvement in the crimes and harm caused to the victims, as well as the degree to which they cooperated with investigators after their arrests, the court said.
The verdict can be appealed.

(By Lin Chang-shun and Matthew Mazzetta)
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Taiwan gangster movie extra sentenced to 18 years in prison for Cambodia scam
9 suspects formed human smuggling ring sending 88 Taiwanese to Cambodia
By Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
2023/04/13 16:45
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — An extra in the Taiwanese gangster movie “Gatao” was sentenced to 18 years in prison Thursday (April 13) for his part in forcing 88 people to join a fraud ring in Cambodia.

Appeals against the sentence for Lee Chen-hao (李振豪), and against prison terms ranging from 11 years to 16 years and six months for eight accomplices, are still possible, the Liberty Times reported.

Lee, who was also a member of the Bamboo Union organized crime group when he joined the cast of the 2015 film, was found guilty of colluding with human traffickers in Cambodia to supply them with 88 Taiwanese forced to work for a fraud ring, though three escaped before leaving Taiwan.

The suspects received up to US$18,000 (NT$550,000) per victim, according to prosecutors. They were brought together in hotel rooms, and flown to Cambodia after they signed a contract. Once they arrived in the Southeast Asian country, they were distributed over several areas described as “scam parks,” where they were often mistreated, the report said.
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4862864

The arrests took place in Taiwan last year, 2022:

Sun, Jul 10, 2022
CIB busts human trafficking ring
By Chiu Chun-fu and Jason Pan / Staff reporters

Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) officials yesterday said they have arrested nine people on suspicion of human trafficking, and rescued nine Taiwanese.
The suspects are being accused of luring Taiwanese to Cambodia with lucrative job offers, before forcing them to work in their fraud operations.

The criminal ring was allegedly led by Lee Chen-hao (李振豪), who is suspected of being a boss of a Taipei chapter of the Bamboo Union triad, the officials said. Lee and two men working for him have been placed under judicial detention pending further investigation, they said. ***

The CIB, with support from the National Police Agency, on Tuesday raided a business run by alleged members of the gang on Linsen N Road in Taipei and detained six suspected members of the ring.

Police also found modified handguns, bullets, computers, money ledgers, employment contracts and other documents linking the suspects to the trafficking operation.

Lee and other members of the ring are facing charges of fraud, illegal confinement and organized crime, CIB officials said.

The CIB’s investigation of the criminal ring began in May, when it received a call from a person being held hostage by the criminals. Police raided a hotel in Taipei and found three people confined to a room waiting to be transported to Cambodia.

Police at the time arrested three suspects, led by a man surnamed Lin (林), who allegedly worked with Lee in the human trafficking operation.

A follow-up investigation led to this week’s arrests, while police are cooperating with Cambodian authorities to track down other Taiwanese who might be linked to the case.

“Lee in November last year linked up with ‘snakeheads’ in Cambodia to set up conduits for human trafficking. He and members of his gang then put advertisements on social media platforms, offering up to NT$50,000 to NT$60,000 a month to work in Cambodia,” the CIB said.

The jobs offered included working in casinos, lending money and acting in adult films, it said.

However, the job applicants were confined to hotel rooms and had their identification cards confiscated before being forced to sign employment contracts. They were then taken to Cambodia, where local criminals and colluding Taiwanese took them to a place where they were forced to work in a telecom scam headed by Taiwanese, it said.
https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan ... 2003781491

Previous CEO topics involving the "Bamboo Gang", a Taiwanese criminal organization, long suspected by Taiwanese police of operating in Cambodia:
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post560897.html#p560897