The Taichung District Court has ruled on a card-free instalment fraud case targeting university students — belated good news for the hundreds of students left in debt, and a heavy sentence for the fraud ring.

• A salesman surnamed Lin was sentenced separately to 1 year and 2 months, 4 years, and 3 years and 6 months on charges including fraud, totalling 8 years and 8 months, along with a fine of NT$40,000.
• The head of the telecom shop and a store manager surnamed Chi were each sentenced to 1 year and 5 months, suspended for 5 years. The ruling may still be appealed.
• The scheme involved recruiting inexperienced university students as nominees, who pretended to be buying consumer electronics in order to apply for card-free instalment plans with financing companies.
• The salesman first paid part of the instalments on their behalf and issued invalid promissory notes to win the students' trust, then lured them into bringing in more classmates, ultimately leaving the students to shoulder the debt themselves.
• The case came to light in October 2023, with more than a hundred students affected and the amount defrauded exceeding NT$10 million.

Outlook: The case remains open to appeal, and the court has yet to determine the aggregate sentence to be served, so the final term could still change.