Taiwanese prosecutors have charged 20 people in a phone scam ring, in a win for authorities cracking down on fraud that drained more than NT$100 million from ordinary savers.

• Two men, surnamed Xu and Zhang, ran a network of internet phone switching boxes that hid where the scam calls really came from.
• They recruited eight people to open landline accounts in their own names, letting the ring plug real phone numbers into the equipment and mask caller ID.
• From early last year through September they reached 66 victims and took over NT$100 million.
• Prosecutors in Miaoli want 15 years in prison for the two ringleaders, and three to eight years for the rest.

Outlook: The case now goes to trial, and prosecutors say they will keep tracing scam money back to its source under the government's expanded anti-fraud push.