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NOPE
Medium reported severity Investigation Opened

Taiwan police say a Taichung fraud call centre used an AI face-swap tool in video calls to win the trust of women in the US and Canada

Taiwanese police said in June 2025 that a fraud call centre in Shalu district, Taichung, had targeted overseas Chinese women in the United States and Canada with romance-investment fraud. According to the police account reported by SETN and carried by Yahoo News Taiwan on 4 June 2025, the call centre created a range of male personas, cultivated relationships with the women, and video-chatted with them through an 'AI face replacement tool' that swapped the operator's face for a persona's; because the picture was very realistic, police say, many victims believed it, after which they were talked into investing in fake energy products and sending money to accounts the suspects supplied. Police say analysis of seized phones identified seven women in the US and Canada who were defrauded, with losses of about NT$3.5 million so far, and that the number of victims and the amount were still being compiled. A photo caption in the report says officers demonstrated the face-replacement tool. The call centre was raided in November 2024, and nine suspects were referred to Taichung prosecutors, seven of them detained; no indictment or verdict has been found.

AI system
Unidentified video tool
Occurred
Event date unknown
Reported
4 June 2025
Event location
Taiwan
What the AI did
Communicated with the person
Reported harm
Financial Loss
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Finance · Relationships
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source
5 claims: 5 reported. 4 open questions
People reported harmed
At least 7 people

AI system as recorded: An 'AI face replacement tool' (face-swap software) that the call centre used in live video calls to show victims a persona's face; tool not named

What Happened

The investigation. After a tip received by the Beidou precinct of the Changhua County police, the Criminal Investigation Bureau's telecommunications investigation corps, the Nantou County and Taichung city police formed a task force under the direction of Taichung prosecutors. In November 2024 the task force raided a fraud call centre in Shalu district, Taichung; when officers entered, members threw some work phones into a bucket of sulphuric acid prepared in advance to destroy evidence. In March 2025 the task force found two suspects responsible for building the front and back end of the fake investment website and designing it, and in early May 2025 it detained the alleged financier at Songshan airport before a planned departure from the country. Nine suspects were referred to the Taichung District Prosecutors Office, and seven were ordered detained.

The AI face-swap video calls. Police say the call centre first set up a range of personas, such as a well-built cheerful man, a refined man in glasses and a fashionably dressed young man, and used them to build relationships with overseas Chinese women in the US and Canada; photos of well-known actors were among the images in its library. The suspects then used an 'AI face replacement tool' to change their faces during video calls with the victims. Police say the picture was so realistic that many victims believed it, and once the suspects had won their trust they induced them to invest in fake energy products and transfer money to accounts the suspects provided. A photo caption in the report says officers demonstrated the tool the suspects used, with the face changing as soon as a library image was applied. The Criminal Investigation Bureau said fraud rings increasingly combine personas with deepfake face-changing in video calls.

The losses. Police say analysis of the seized phones found seven women in the US and Canada who had been defrauded; through requests to the two countries, the losses identified so far were about NT$3.5 million, and the number of victims and the amount were still being compiled.

What is not known. The source does not name the tool, give the dates of the frauds or say how much each woman lost, how many video calls used the face swap, or whether the women have recovered any money. No indictment or court ruling was found. This record rests on one police account carried by one outlet.

Reported harm

Taiwanese police say a Taichung call centre won the trust of overseas Chinese women in the US and Canada through video calls in which an AI tool swapped the operators' faces for personas', then talked them into fake energy investments; seven women identified so far lost about NT$3.5 million in total.

Outcome

Ongoing

Police raided the Shalu call centre in November 2024 and made further arrests in March and May 2025; nine suspects were referred to the Taichung District Prosecutors Office on suspicion of fraud, aggravated fraud, money laundering and organised-crime offences, and seven were ordered detained. No indictment or court ruling was found in searches on 2026-10-29.

What remains unknown

  • Which face-swap tool was used.
  • When the frauds took place; the source gives only the November 2024 raid and the 2025 arrests.
  • How much each woman lost and how many of the video calls used the face swap.
  • Whether the suspects were indicted or convicted, and whether any money was recovered.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. Taiwanese police, who seized the call centre's phones, say the suspects used an AI face-replacement tool during video calls so that the women saw a persona's face, that the realistic picture made many victims believe the persona was real, and that the suspects used the trust gained to induce the investments; a photo caption in the report says officers demonstrated the tool. The tool is not named and the source does not say how many calls used it.

5 claims: 5 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported In November 2024 a police task force under Taichung prosecutors raided a fraud call centre in Shalu district, Taichung; members threw work phones into a bucket of sulphuric acid to destroy evidence.

Causal attribution. Police account as reported; one origin.

  • tw.news.yahoo.com(opens in new tab) supports · Chinese (Taiwan)
    於113年11月執行第一波拘搜行動，攻堅位於沙鹿區的詐欺話務機房 ... 機房成員一見警方攻堅，立即將部分工作手機丟入事先準備好的硫酸桶內試圖滅證。
Reported Police say the call centre set up personas to build relationships with overseas Chinese women in the US and Canada and used an AI face-replacement tool to change faces in video calls with them; because the picture was very realistic many believed it, and the suspects then induced them to invest. Officers demonstrated the tool.

Causal attribution. The AI attribution is the investigating police's, who say the suspects used the tool and demonstrated it; the tool is not named.

  • tw.news.yahoo.com(opens in new tab) supports · Chinese (Taiwan)
    該話務機房先設定「各類人設」與美加地區女性華僑培養感情 ... 嫌犯利用「AI人臉替換工具」變臉軟體與被害人視訊，由於畫面相當逼真，不少被害人信以為真，嫌犯取得信任後，再以各種話術誘使被害人投資。 ... 員警示範嫌犯使用的「AI人臉替換工具」，只要套上圖庫立即變臉，視訊畫面相當逼真。
Reported Police say the victims were induced to invest in fake energy products and to send money to accounts the suspects provided.

Causal attribution. Police account as reported.

Reported Police say analysis of the seized phones found seven women in the US and Canada who had been defrauded, with losses identified so far of about NT$3.5 million, and that victims and amounts were still being compiled.

Causal attribution. Police figures from the phone analysis and US/Canada inquiries; a lower bound by their own account.

  • tw.news.yahoo.com(opens in new tab) supports · Chinese (Taiwan)
    檢警分析手機資料後發現有7名美加地區的女性華僑遭到詐騙，透過國際科向美加2國協查，查出目前財損約新台幣350萬元，受害人與金額持續統計清查中。
Reported Nine suspects were referred to Taichung prosecutors and seven were ordered detained; two suspects responsible for building and designing the fake investment website were found in March 2025.

Causal attribution. Police account of the procedural steps as reported.

  • tw.news.yahoo.com(opens in new tab) supports · Chinese (Taiwan)
    等9嫌移送台中地檢署偵辦，其中7嫌裁定羈押。 ... 114年3月查獲負責製作及架設假投資網站前後端平臺

Sources

1 source inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in Chinese by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-28 and again on 2026-10-29; English renderings are the agent's own translation. SETN (Sanlih) report published on Yahoo News Taiwan on 4 Jun 2025, based on the police and Criminal Investigation Bureau account; HTTP 200. Applies to s1.

Event countries: Taiwan. Affected-person countries: United States, Canada. Court countries: Unknown.

Police say the call centre that ran the video calls operated in Shalu district, Taichung, so TW is recorded as the event country. The victims are described as overseas Chinese women in the US and Canada, and police made inquiries with the two countries, so US and CA are recorded as affected-person countries. No court has ruled; Taichung prosecutors are investigating.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-29: Published as a core case (communicated_with): the investigating police say a fraud call centre spoke to women in the US and Canada through video calls in which an AI face-replacement tool showed them a persona's face, and used the trust this won to take their money in fake investments. The AI attribution rests on the police account, including their demonstration of the tool; the record rests on one police account carried by one outlet.

People described

Overseas Chinese women living in the United States and Canada who were drawn into online romantic relationships with call-centre personas and then into fake investments. Police identified seven so far. None is named.

People reported harmed in this case

At least 7 people

0 AI participants · 7 other people harmed

Police say analysis of seized phones found seven women in the US and Canada who were defrauded, and that the number of victims was still being compiled, so seven is a lower bound. The source does not say how many of them took part in face-swapped video calls.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#ai-face-swap#deepfake-video-call#romance-fraud#investment-fraud#fraud-call-centre#police-statement#taiwan

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Taiwan police say a Taichung fraud call centre used an AI face-swap tool in video calls to win the trust of women in the US and Canada. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2024-taiwan-police-say-taichung-call-centre-used-ai-face-swap-video-calls-in-romance-investment-fraud-of-women-in-us-and-canada

BibTeX

@misc{2024_taiwan_police_say_taichung_call_centre_used_ai_face_swap_video_calls_in_romance_investment_fraud_of_women_in_us_and_canada,
  title = {Taiwan police say a Taichung fraud call centre used an AI face-swap tool in video calls to win the trust of women in the US and Canada},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2024-taiwan-police-say-taichung-call-centre-used-ai-face-swap-video-calls-in-romance-investment-fraud-of-women-in-us-and-canada}
}

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