{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-02T20:40:10.454Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"taipei","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"core","evidence":"","year":"","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":1,"coverage":{"cases":1,"countries":1,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":0,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":0,"minors":0,"coreRelations":1,"contextualRelations":0,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":0,"relationPending":0,"relationUnknown":0},"countingNote":"Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.","affectedCountNote":"Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.","source":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2022-taiwan-ai-voice-changer-romance-fraud-ring-20000-victims-nt900m-57-indicted","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'更導入AI系統，將男員工、大媽的聲音變成甜美女生，在各大交友平台鎖定多金對象，談起網戀，要求對方送高價商品'; '將集團內22名實際從事「公關小姐」的甜美聲紋導入聊天系統中。因此不論男女，只要利用該系統聊天，出來的聲音都變成甜美女聲'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'警方表示，詐團還有工程師設計「AI變聲軟體」，偽裝成公關小姐要求被害人贈送禮物，甚至索討零用金、搬家費、買美容課程等款項'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"From 2022 a romance-fraud ring used AI voice-changing software, built by an engineer in the ring with the voiceprints of 22 hostesses, so that members chatting with targets on dating platforms sounded like young women.","causal_attribution":"Prosecutors' and police account relayed by two outlets (one chain); the software's role is their description and no court has ruled."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'不法所得超過9億元，被害人超過2萬人。台北地檢署今日偵結，起訴57名被告'; '許多被害人因此舉債度日'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'從2022年開始，被害人超過2萬人，詐騙金額超過9億元'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Prosecutors and police put the ring's victims at more than 20,000 and its criminal proceeds at more than NT$900 million since 2022, and say many victims went into debt.","causal_attribution":"Totals stated by prosecutors and police for the ring as a whole; the reports do not say how many victims heard the AI-converted voice."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'台北地檢署於今年5、7月指揮刑事警察局第四大隊第三隊展開搜索，查扣集團購入的法拉利、麥拉倫超跑，以及47支名表，更扣押高達3億元的不動產與帳戶，另外也帶回67台裝有「AI深偽程式」的犯罪電腦'; '首腦夫妻分別被求處25年、18年徒刑'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'檢方2日偵結，依違反《詐欺犯罪危害防制條例》等罪嫌，起訴57名被告'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"After searches in May and July 2026 that seized supercars, 47 watches, up to NT$300 million in property and accounts and 67 computers holding AI deepfake programs, the Taipei District Prosecutors Office indicted 57 defendants on 2 September 2026 and asked for 25- and 18-year sentences for the couple who led the ring.","causal_attribution":"Indictment as reported by two outlets; allegations, not a court finding."}],"effects":[{"label":"more than 20,000 people defrauded of over NT$900 million in fake online romances, many left in debt","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/society/breakingnews/5560352","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read live in Traditional Chinese on 2026-10-02 (Liberty Times staff reporters, Taipei, 2 September 2026); reports the prosecutors' indictment findings. Researcher translation.","independence_group":"taipei-prosecutors-ai-voice-romance-ring"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://news.pts.org.tw/article/825232","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read live in Traditional Chinese on 2026-10-02 (PTS, 2 September 2026); reports police and prosecutors' findings and quotes a Criminal Investigation Bureau officer. Same official chain as s1. Researcher translation.","independence_group":"taipei-prosecutors-ai-voice-romance-ring"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["relationships","finance"],"unknowns":["How many of the more than 20,000 victims heard the AI-converted voice, and how the NT$900 million loss is divided among them.","Whether the voice-changing software was built on an existing product or model.","Where the victims live, and the court outcome."],"geography":{"basis":"The ring was investigated by Taiwan's Criminal Investigation Bureau and indicted by the Taipei District Prosecutors Office, with the case transferred to the Taipei District Court (Liberty Times; PTS). The reports do not state where the victims live.","court_countries":["TW"],"event_countries":["TW"],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as a core case: a fraud ring spoke to targets through AI voice-changing software in fake romances that prosecutors say defrauded more than 20,000 people. The account is the Taipei District Prosecutors Office's indictment as reported by the Liberty Times and PTS. The accused are named in reports and not named here.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-02"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"Prosecutors and police say an engineer in the ring built AI voice-changing software that turned members' voices into a young woman's voice in the chat system used with targets (Liberty Times; PTS). The converted voice was a channel through which targets were spoken to (communicated_with). No forensic detail or underlying product is reported.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"Taiwan: a romance-fraud ring used AI voice-changing software so members sounded like young women on dating platforms; prosecutors say more than 20,000 people were defrauded of over NT$900 million and indicted 57 people in September 2026","summary":"According to the Taipei District Prosecutors Office and Taiwan's Criminal Investigation Bureau, as reported by the Liberty Times and Public Television Service (PTS) on 2 September 2026, a fraud ring set up in 2022 by a married couple ran fake romances on dating platforms. An engineer in the ring built AI voice-changing software that loaded the voiceprints of 22 women working for the ring as hostesses into its chat system, so that any member, male staff and older women included, spoke to targets in a sweet young woman's voice. Members pressed the people they courted to buy expensive health supplements and gifts and to pay pocket money, moving costs and beauty courses, and the ring sent hostesses to meet some targets, in some cases for sex, to keep them paying. Prosecutors put the victims at more than 20,000 and the proceeds at more than NT$900 million since 2022, and say many victims are still living in debt. After searches in May and July 2026, the Taipei District Prosecutors Office indicted 57 defendants on 2 September 2026 under the Fraud Crime Hazard Prevention Act and asked for sentences of 25 and 18 years for the couple.","incidentDate":"2022-01-01","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"year","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2026-09-02","aiSystem":"AI voice-changing software built by an engineer in the fraud ring, which converted members' voices into a young woman's voice using the voiceprints of 22 hostesses (per prosecutors and police); investigators also seized 67 computers described as holding AI deepfake programs","aiProduct":"Unidentified voice-cloning tool","severity":"high","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["financial_loss"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"Prosecutors say more than 20,000 people were defrauded of a combined total exceeding NT$900 million by a romance-fraud ring whose members spoke to targets through AI voice-changing software, and that many victims went into debt (Taipei District Prosecutors Office via the Liberty Times and PTS).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":20000,"affectedCountStatus":"documented_minimum","affectedCountEvidence":"Prosecutors and police put the ring's victims at more than 20,000 (被害人超過2萬人; Liberty Times and PTS), counted as a documented minimum of 20,000 people defrauded. The figure covers the ring's victims since 2022; the reports do not say how many of them heard the AI-converted voice. The 22 hostesses whose voiceprints were used and the employees reportedly punished by the leader are ring members and are not counted.","victimAgeRange":"unknown","jurisdiction":"TW","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"criminal_charges","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/society/breakingnews/5560352","primarySourceLabel":"Liberty Times, 2 September 2026: 詐欺集團利用AI騙感情 逾2萬人受害損失9億元 起訴57人","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-02T03:35:49.482296+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-02T03:35:49.482296+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["voice-changing","romance-scam","dating-platforms","fraud-ring","taiwan","taipei","indictment","communicated-with"]}]}