Nine involved in counterfeit U.S. dollar ring detained

■ (CNA file photo)

Taipei, March 7 (CNA) A request to detain nine out of 11 people arrested in connection with a counterfeit U.S. dollar scam has been granted by the court, the Taipei District Prosecutors Office said Monday.

The nine, eight men and one woman, were arrested by the Taipei District Prosecutors Office after Mega International Commercial Bank management turned over suspicious bills to investigation agencies, which found the currency to be counterfeit.

The suspects have refused to reveal the name of the counterfeit ring's mastermind or whether a fake U.S. dollar production plant exists since being arrested at the end of February, leading prosecutors to request that they be detained for fear that if free they would collude and destroy evidence.

The nine were found to have taken counterfeit U.S. dollars to the bank to see if they could evade detection and create the opportunity to exchange large amounts of counterfeit bills later, prosecutors said.

"We're still trying to track down the masterminds of the counterfeit money ring," one prosecutor said.

Local media reported that the ring successfully exchanged US$2 million in counterfeit US$100 bills for about NT$66 million in Taiwan before the Lunar New Year, which fell on Feb. 8.

The counterfeit money evaded detection by bank clerks and passed counterfeit money detectors, the United Daily News said.

It was the first time a Taiwanese financial institution had been swindled of a large sum of money by rogues using counterfeit U.S. dollars, the reports said.

While the members of the ring who were detained in late February tried to pass counterfeit bills dated 2007, the ring's successful scam before the Lunar New Year used counterfeit U.S. dollars from World War II to exchange Taiwan dollars.

Banks are required to double check with local authorities and the United States when presented with old U.S. dollars, but Mega Bank bypassed the step, giving the ring an opening, the report said.

Investigators found that members of the ring took small amounts of the counterfeit bills to the bank first to see if they would be detected.

Once assured that the bank couldn't tell the fake bills from real ones, they decided to change a total of US$2 million into Taiwan dollars.

The money was exchanged evenly at two of Mega Bank's branches in Taipei and then deposited into dummy bank accounts at other banks.

All of the money has been withdrawn, and investigators suspect that some of the money has already been laundered abroad. 

(By Liu Shih-yi and Lilian Wu)

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel