Shocking Taiwan's financial sector! Six executives from Taichung Bank colluded with a fraud ring, involved in helping to launder 3.6 billion yuan

Taichung Bank’s 6 executives were involved in collusion with a fraud syndicate, helping open “head accounts” to evade anti–money laundering safeguards and cover up cash flows of up to NT$3.64 billion. Prosecutors seized nearly NT$270 million in assets and charged 7 people for violations of the Banking Act and the Anti–Money Laundering Act.

The fraud syndicate infiltrated Taichung Bank executives, involving more than NT$3.6 billion in money laundering

A major case broke out at Taichung Bank involving bank employees colluding with scam and gambling groups, shocking the financial industry! According to United News Network, the Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office found that Hong Yuepeng, the person in charge of Wanli Development Company, for the purpose of facilitating money laundering, had long actively penetrated the financial system and recruited multiple senior executives from Taichung Bank to join the criminal organization.

Today (4/23), prosecutors, on suspicion of violations including special breach of trust under the Banking Act, large-scale money laundering under the Anti–Money Laundering Act, and offenses under the Organized Crime Prevention Act, formally indicted Hong Yuepeng and a total of 7 people including 6 bank executives, for a case involving illegal funds totaling NT$3.64 billion, seriously undermining domestic financial regulatory mechanisms.

Bank executives abused their authority to shield the fraud syndicate and evade AML safeguards

Prosecutors stated that Hong Yuepeng allegedly conspired with managers and assistant managers at four branches of Taichung Bank—Tanzi, Beitun, Zhongzheng, and Toufen. From September 2024 to April 2025, these bank executives allegedly abused their authority to assist the group in opening financial accounts under the names of 12 fictitious business entities such as Jiaya○ Industrial, which had no actual business operations.

When handling account openings, they even failed to retain the required account-opening image photos, and deliberately increased the large-value transfer limits for the accounts of these business entities. Once the “head accounts” triggered suspicious money-laundering alert notifications, the bank executives involved would intentionally provide cover, delaying reporting the abnormal circumstances to the competent authorities.

Even after reporting abnormalities, they were still lax in implementing preventive measures such as suspending, restricting, or terminating remittance transactions, allowing the fraud and illegal proceeds from online gambling to be transferred out quickly. They then immediately made frequent outbound transfers via internet banking, using layered transfers to conceal the source and destination of large amounts of criminal proceeds.

Investigators launched searches on multiple fronts and seized nearly NT$270 million in illegal proceeds

After months of evidence collection, the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau’s Aviation Investigation Division began a large-scale operation. According to Mirror News, the task force adopted strategies of tracing accounts by following the flow of funds and tracing back through responsible parties, conducting searches in three waves at Wanli Development and multiple locations including branches of Taichung Bank.

Investigators and prosecutors jointly seized deposits, real estate, stocks, and luxury cars held under the names of Hong Yuepeng and other involved managers, totaling more than NT$269.10 million.

Taichung prosecutors have completed interrogations, and the detention requests have been approved for three people, including Hong Yuepeng, Manager Zhang of the Tanzi Branch, and Manager Zhuang of the Toufen Branch. As for the remaining suspects, Manager Huang of the Zhongzheng Branch was released on NT$10 million bail, Manager Yao of the Beitun Branch was released on NT$6 million bail, Assistant Su of the Beitun Branch was released on NT$500,000 bail, and Assistant Chen of the Zhongzheng Branch was released without bail and returned.

Taichung Bank also issued a major announcement on April 1, stating that it would cooperate with the Investigation Bureau’s search and interrogation procedures, and emphasizing that the bank’s overall financial condition and business operations would not be affected.

According to the 165 Anti-Scam Dashboard statistics, Taiwan’s scam syndicates are rampant, with nearly NT$5 billion in reported financial losses in March. Now that scam syndicates have directly recruited bank executives to commit crimes, financial institutions are re-examining not only outward anti-scam and anti–money laundering measures, but also internal control mechanisms—whether there are “insiders” becoming loopholes on the bank side.

This article is compiled by Crypto Agent from information gathered from multiple parties, reviewed and edited by 《Crypto City》, and is currently in the training stage; there may be logical discrepancies or information errors. The content is for reference only and should not be considered investment advice.