September 2019
A person who hands over a financial account for a price to another person for free use but fails to further verify the purposes of use should be deemed to have an indeterminate intent to aid fraud (Taiwan)
Frank Sun
The Taipei High Court issued the 108-Shang-Yi-53 Criminal Decision of April 16, 2019 (hereinafter, this "Decision"), holding that a person who hands over a financial account for a price to another person for free use but fails to further verify the purposes of use should be deemed to have an indeterminate intent to aid fraud.
According to the facts underlying this Decision, the Defendant saw a recruitment advertisement which indicated that at least NT$30,000 in cash would be paid in three days at the fastest in a website and contacted the party posting the advertisement via the LINE communications software. The Defendant learned that he could profit by providing a financial account and earn a compensation of NT$30,000 per month for each account so provided, and each person could provide up to 7 accounts and earn up to NT$210,000 by delivering his/her bank passes, ATM cards and passwords (which had been changed as instructed) to a person whose name and age were unknown through courier services to convenience stores. After obtaining the account information, such person handed the information to the associated fraud gang for their use. The members of the fraud gang then engaged in acts of fraud to seek their own illegal gains. Therefore, the Defendant was prosecuted for aiding fraud.
According to this Decision, since the Defendant was at least 25 years old and, according to his own statement, had operated a hair salon and a hot pot restaurant, he had ordinary life experience. Therefore, when another person offered to pay a monthly rent of NT$30,000 for each unrestricted account and sought to rent a large number of accounts, it is impossible that the Defendant did not suspect if such accounts were to be used to evade investigation of illegal property crimes. However, the Defendant never asked any further question or conducted any verification while allowing another person to freely use his accounts. Therefore, it is obvious that the Defendant subjectively allowed the person who had obtained the bank passes, ATM cards and passwords to use the accounts as tools of fraud, that the Defendant's intent was not violated, translating into the Defendant's indeterminate intent. Therefore, the Defendant was sentenced in this Decision to 5 months in prison, which may be commuted to a fine for NT$1,000 per day, for being an accessory to an offense of obtaining money by fraud.
The Taipei High Court issued the 108-Shang-Yi-53 Criminal Decision of April 16, 2019 (hereinafter, this "Decision"), holding that a person who hands over a financial account for a price to another person for free use but fails to further verify the purposes of use should be deemed to have an indeterminate intent to aid fraud.
According to the facts underlying this Decision, the Defendant saw a recruitment advertisement which indicated that at least NT$30,000 in cash would be paid in three days at the fastest in a website and contacted the party posting the advertisement via the LINE communications software. The Defendant learned that he could profit by providing a financial account and earn a compensation of NT$30,000 per month for each account so provided, and each person could provide up to 7 accounts and earn up to NT$210,000 by delivering his/her bank passes, ATM cards and passwords (which had been changed as instructed) to a person whose name and age were unknown through courier services to convenience stores. After obtaining the account information, such person handed the information to the associated fraud gang for their use. The members of the fraud gang then engaged in acts of fraud to seek their own illegal gains. Therefore, the Defendant was prosecuted for aiding fraud.
According to this Decision, since the Defendant was at least 25 years old and, according to his own statement, had operated a hair salon and a hot pot restaurant, he had ordinary life experience. Therefore, when another person offered to pay a monthly rent of NT$30,000 for each unrestricted account and sought to rent a large number of accounts, it is impossible that the Defendant did not suspect if such accounts were to be used to evade investigation of illegal property crimes. However, the Defendant never asked any further question or conducted any verification while allowing another person to freely use his accounts. Therefore, it is obvious that the Defendant subjectively allowed the person who had obtained the bank passes, ATM cards and passwords to use the accounts as tools of fraud, that the Defendant's intent was not violated, translating into the Defendant's indeterminate intent. Therefore, the Defendant was sentenced in this Decision to 5 months in prison, which may be commuted to a fine for NT$1,000 per day, for being an accessory to an offense of obtaining money by fraud.
