A scam in Taichung run under the guise of "card-free instalments" left 139 university students saddled with debts they never expected. Bad news for the victims, but the verdict has given them a measure of justice.

• The owner, store manager and a salesman at a 3C electronics store approached students near more than 10 universities, including Feng Chia University, luring them with the promise that "just sign and you get cash."
• Students who signed instalment purchase contracts received NT$3,000 to NT$5,000, and were promised the other side would keep up the loan repayments — which they did for a few instalments before walking away.
• The three used the contracts to draw funds from a loan company, netting more than NT$12 million in illegal gains. The victims also included a loan company and a technology company.
• The salesman even used a pyramid-scheme-style tactic, paying students to recruit their classmates into the scheme; police concluded that these students had also been deceived and did not treat them as accomplices.
• In the first instance, the Taichung District Court sentenced the salesman to 8 years and 8 months on charges including aggravated fraud, while the owner and the store manager each received 1 year and 5 months, suspended for 5 years.

Outlook: The verdict can still be appealed, and how to clear the victims' debts remains a difficult question going forward.