Ou Yutong, the female leader of the fake gold withdrawal fraud group. (Taken from IG)
At the end of 2024, the prosecutors uncovered Taiwan's largest fake withdrawal investment fraud group, "Meile Company", with a total of more than 846.95 million yuan in fake withdrawals, resulting in 5,082 victims and more than 15.8 billion yuan in fraudulent money. In the first instance, the Taipei District Court sentenced the female leader Ou Yutong to 24 years in prison for 185 crimes including presiding over a criminal organization to defraud and obtain wealth. After the case was appealed, the High Court changed the sentence of Ou Yutong to 18 years in prison, which can be appealed.
The 27-year-old Ou Yutong, who looks like the Korean star Kim Ji-soo, was originally a "dinner girl". She and her boyfriend Wu Hanwei, who was the leader of the Bamboo Union Gang Hongren Association, jointly established the "Meile Company" to cooperate with transnational fraud groups. In addition to assisting in converting the stolen money into Tether currency or legal tender, they transferred money at various levels and laundered it. They also used fake gold withdrawal techniques to catch big fish in the long run.
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The Taipei District Prosecutor's Office indicted 80 people in April last year. Some were wanted because they fled during the trial. Some are still in the process of being detained, and some were suspended due to illness. 76 people were sentenced in the first instance, and each was sentenced to prison terms ranging from 2 to 24 years. There are still 22 people in custody, and several people have been sentenced to prison in separate cases.
The first-instance judgment pointed out that Meile Company set up 2,230 fake investment websites and mobile APPs, and published fake investment advertisements on social groups and communication software to trick victims into meeting face to face or remitting money. After the victims took the bait, the fake money withdrawal group would remit part of the money to the victims, causing them to mistakenly believe that there was real profit and increase their investment, ultimately losing all their money.
During the trial, 56 people including Ou Nu pleaded guilty, and 19 people denied or only admitted to a misdemeanor. However, the evidence was clear and they were all found guilty. The collegial bench of the Taipei District Court of first instance criticized all of them for committing crimes for their own gain in their youth, causing the victims to suffer heavy financial losses and making it difficult to recover the stolen money. 19 of them had a bad attitude after committing the crime and showed no regrets, and they were sentenced separately.
After the case was appealed, the High Court changed the sentence of Ou Yutong to 18 years in prison, which can be appealed.
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