Published: 2025/9/29 12:56 PM Updated: 2025/9/29 2:32 PM
Lin Jiansheng, Wang Longtao / Local Report
A 70-year-old woman in Tainan City, who applied for a job as a foreign affairs representative for a company, was recently arrested by police while being sent to Taichung to collect payments. She claimed she was merely assisting the company with foreign affairs and had no idea she was being used as a driver, but instead was exploited by a fraud ring. Police have filed a case, and prosecutors are charging her with multiple counts of organized crime, fraud, and forgery, seeking a prison sentence of at least one year and two months.
Police officers stopped the woman on the street and seized relevant account books and cash. She then confessed to being a hired foreign affairs representative.
The police asked, “Who did you give it to after you took it? Auntie, do you know this is a driver’s job?”
The woman responded, “I don’t know who I gave it to. I didn’t know I was a driver. They said I was a foreign affairs officer, and they all have official seals.”
After a thorough interrogation, the police discovered the woman was 70 years old. She told them that a knee condition made it difficult for her to walk, but because she needed money, she found a job as a foreign affairs officer for an investment company online and traveled from Tainan to Taichung to collect payments. She claimed she had no idea she was working as a driver for the scam.
Chen Buqing, captain of the Taichung City Daya Branch Investigation Team, stated, “A 70-year-old female driver surnamed Chen was apprehended at a building in Taichung’s North District after she presented herself with a NT$340,000 investment. She then claimed she was unaware she was being used as a driver by the scam.”
The police brought the woman to justice, and prosecutors charged her with violating the Organized Crime Act, fraud, forgery, and money laundering, seeking a prison sentence of at least one year and two months. Experts point out that in recent years, as part of their efforts to create a firewall, scammers have gradually shifted their cash withdrawal drivers from teenagers to foreigners or seniors.
LIN,SHU-LI ,Assistant Professor of the Department of Criminal Justice at Ming Chuan University, analyzed, “Sometimes, when older people need to supplement their income, they see job applications on social media. Scammers exploit this lack of knowledge, or those who haven’t experienced or understood the rapid pace of social change, potentially leading them astray.”
Criminal experts point out that the proportion of older people serving as cash withdrawal drivers is increasing, and these scammers exploit their desire to find independent work by packaging them with outside work or no experience required, luring unsuspecting seniors into their scams.