Scammers in Taiwan are having victims buy gold instead of wiring money, and police say a jewelry shop played along — bad news for fraud victims and for trust in gold dealers.

• A 33-year-old woman investor in New Taipei lost more than NT$17 million to callers posing as police and prosecutors.
• She handed over cash first, then bought about 3 kilos of gold in 20 days at one shop.
• Police say the shop likely knew she was being scammed but kept selling, skipped some receipts, and even escorted her to the bank to vouch that she was not being defrauded.
• Nine people are now in custody, including the shop owner, three staff, and the couriers who ran the gold south to break the money trail.

Outlook: Expect tighter scrutiny of gold dealers as scammers keep switching from bank transfers to physical gold to stay ahead of investigators.