A Taichung man surnamed Jiang served as a fraud syndicate's "water collector" to defraud 100,000 in cash and was sentenced to 1 year and 8 months in prison.

A Taichung man named Jiang joined a fraud group as a "water collector" and took away 100,000 in cash from a victim named Zhang. However, after being arrested, he denied committing the crime. The Taichung District Court found three or more people guilty of jointly defrauding money and was sentenced to one year and eight months in prison. (Photo by reporter Chen Jianzhi)

A man named Jiang (21 years old) in Taichung joined a fraud group as a "water collector". In 2025, a woman named Zhang mistakenly believed that investing in cryptocurrencies could make a profit, and met with the fraud group to pay 100,000 yuan. The boy surnamed Zhang came forward to withdraw money and handed the money to Jiang Nan, who was a "water collector". After the two were arrested, the young man surnamed Zhang confessed to be the driver and handed the money to Jiang Nan. However, Jiang Nan denied committing the crime and argued that they just met to drink together that day. However, the judge did not believe it and sentenced more than three people to the crime of jointly defrauding property and sentenced him to one year and eight months in prison.

The verdict pointed out that a Taichung man surnamed Jiang (21 years old) and a boy surnamed Zhang (a separate case investigated by the juvenile court) joined a fraud group nicknamed "Glow Node Customer Service". The group published false cryptocurrency investment advertisements on Douyin. After the woman surnamed Zhang saw it, she added "Glow Node Customer Service" and others as LINE friends, and the other party pretended to be able to store value to purchase cryptocurrency investments to make profits.

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Ms. Zhang believed it to be true and made an appointment to deliver 100,000 yuan in cash at a supermarket in Shengang District, Taichung at around 7 p.m. on January 2, 2025. The boy named Zhang was instructed to enter the supermarket to withdraw money. When he came out, he immediately handed the money to Jiang Nan, who was responsible for "water collection," and handed it over to unknown members of the fraud group.

After the fraud group got the money, they transferred the equivalent amount of cryptocurrency to an electronic wallet controlled by the fraud group to gain Zhang's trust. It was not until Zhang asked to withdraw the profits that she found out that she had been deceived and reported it to the police. The police followed the lead and arrested the boy surnamed Zhang and Jiang Nan.

During the trial at the Taichung District Court, Jiang Nan admitted that he and the boy surnamed Zhang went to the supermarket that day, but denied fraud or money laundering. He argued that the boy surnamed Zhang came to him for a drink that day. He only said that he was going to the supermarket to do work and did not say that he wanted to collect money. He did not collect money from him. He admitted that Zhang Nan asked him to join the fraud group. He was a driver and he was collecting water. But this time he was just accompanying him and really did not do anything.

However, when a police officer surnamed Zhang was interviewed, he said that both he and Jiang Nan had joined the "Central Coin Dealers" group. They followed the instructions and went to collect money that day. After receiving 100,000 yuan, they walked to Fengzhou Road and handed the money to Jiang Nan. They had interviews about 4 or 5 times, all with the cooperation of Jiang Nan. The person who started collecting money was a man surnamed Chen, who could earn 1,000 yuan for every 100,000 yuan received. Jiang Nan gave him 1,000 yuan that day.

The Taichung District Court believed that in addition to the testimony of the young man surnamed Zhang, supermarket monitors and taxi-hailing data also showed that the two people appeared at the scene that day and called taxis one after the other to the Taichung High-Speed ​​Rail Station. If they were meeting to drink, they should be in the same car.

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