Foreign Women Feigning Tourism for Prostitution: Police Trace Money Flow, Bust Gang, Arrest 4

(CNA, New Taipei City, 3rd) The New Taipei City Police announced today that they used big data to trace the financial flows of several prostitution ring cases, discovering a gang operating behind the scenes. After gathering evidence, they arrested the main suspect, Mr. Huang, and three accomplices, and transferred the case to the prosecutor's office on charges of organized crime, drug offenses, violating the law on sex work, and money laundering.

The New Taipei City Police Department's Criminal Investigation Brigade announced today that after an in-depth investigation into several prostitution ring cases uncovered by district police precincts, they gathered evidence against a suspect surnamed Huang. Recently, the 5th Investigation Team of the City's Criminal Investigation Brigade conducted searches and arrests at multiple locations.

Team leader Chen Guoyu stated in a telephone interview with CNA that by consolidating and expanding intelligence from several prostitution rings and analyzing financial flows, they found that the funds from these rings, located in New Taipei City and Taipei City, all flowed to the same gang group, which had been long-term controlling and operating the prostituted women.

Chen said these rings advertised on social media platforms. A suspect surnamed Lin was responsible for retouching and beautifying photos of women and writing promotional copy, then posting ads on online platforms to solicit customers. The group used "xiangke" (incense burner visitor) as a reservation code and named their group "jinxiangtuan" (incense pilgrimage group) in an attempt to evade police detection.

Police pointed out that the main suspect, Mr. Huang, used his overseas connections to recruit Thai women to come to Taiwan under the guise of short-term tourism, but actually engaged in sex work. If the women could not afford airfare or travel expenses, Huang would advance the costs and provide accommodation to attract more foreign women to join. The group then took a commission from the sex trade.

Police stated that in recent years, sex trafficking rings have used encrypted communication software and dummy bank accounts to hide their criminal tracks, increasing the difficulty of detection. However, tech-savvy crimes cannot escape the law. Through big data analysis and online patrols, analysis of related financial flows revealed that the prostitution ring controlled by this gang had accumulated profits of several million New Taiwan Dollars.

After about six months of evidence gathering, police secured evidence of Mr. Huang's involvement. The 5th Investigation Team conducted searches and arrests, seizing mobile phones, computer equipment, and marijuana as evidence. The case was transferred to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office on charges of organized crime, drug offenses, violating the law on sex work, and money laundering. The main suspect, Mr. Huang, and three accomplices, surnamed Lin, Chen, and Qiu, a total of four people, were transferred. After interrogation, they were released on high bail. (Editor: Zhang Mingkun) 1150603