Two Taiwanese Charged for Aiding Chinese Espionage Ring
Taipei prosecutors have charged two Taiwanese citizens for aiding a Chinese espionage operation that bought social media accounts to pose as international journalists. The spy ring, active since 2023, targeted scholars, minority rights groups, diplomatic offices and legislative assistants with fake interview requests aimed at installing malicious software on their devices. Authorities said no major data leaks took place.
Chinese Espionage: Taiwan Nationals Charged for Aiding Spy Ring
REPORTER:
Taipei prosecutors have charged two Taiwanese citizens for aiding a Chinese spy ring.
Authorities say the spy operation had been running since 2023, using local social media accounts bought from the two Taiwanese suspects. Chinese spies used the accounts to pose as international journalists and employed social engineering tactics to gather information from people in Taiwan. They targeted scholars, minority rights groups, diplomatic offices and even legislative assistants, using fake interview requests to try to infect their devices with malware.
Pan Chi-hsiang (CYBER SECURITY DIVISION CHIEF, MINISTRY OF JUSTICE INVESTIGATION BUREAU):
Two Taiwanese nationals surnamed Li and Chen, acting on instructions from Chinese cyber actors, collected LINE accounts registered with Taiwanese mobile numbers and leased them to the cyber actors for [US$161] per account.
REPORTER:
Authorities said no major data leaks occurred.
