Presumption of Innocence Left in Textbooks: Interview Stories of a Dummy Account Defendant (Part 3)

Careless Job Hunting Leads to Fraud

Chao Hsiao-ling (a pseudonym) found a job advertisement on the 104 Job Bank website. Facing financial difficulties, she applied for the position without much thought. After applying, an "Assistant Chang" informed her that the job was for an underground gambling den. Assistant Chang explained that her account would only be used for the company's "fund remittance" (meaning gamblers would wire money into her account, and she would withdraw it to hand over to the company; the accountant would reconcile accounts afterward). Assistant Chang empathized with Hsiao-ling, saying the job was neither stealing nor robbing, and although not exactly a legitimate line of work, she only planned to do it for a while and leave once she had saved enough money. Touched by Assistant Chang's explanation, Hsiao-ling acknowledged the job was illegitimate, but given her lack of higher education, the pay was simply too good to pass up. Consequently, Hsiao-ling mailed her ATM card and PIN to Assistant Chang so the latter could test whether her account was usable. To her astonishment, the other party used her account as a dummy account for fraud, and Hsiao-ling was referred to the prosecutors office on suspicion of aiding and abetting fraud!

Prosecutorial Investigator Pressures for a Confession

When Hsiao-ling's case arrived at the prosecutors office, it was handled primarily by a prosecutorial investigator rather than a prosecutor. The prosecutorial investigator looked at Hsiao-ling with utter disdain. Having never encountered such a situation, Hsiao-ling panicked completely and had no idea how to respond. At the prosecutors office, aiding and abetting fraud was merely a minor case, and the investigator had little inclination to investigate further. After asking a few questions, the investigator began pressuring Hsiao-ling to confess...

Investigator: "Why did the company want to test whether your account was working properly?"
Hsiao-ling: "Well, that was their rule, and at the time I was also based on..." (interrupted by the investigator)
Investigator: "I will ask you again, do you know why they wanted to test if the account was working properly?!"
Hsiao-ling: "Because he said it was to see if later... how can I put it, the company wanted us to go withdraw the money."
Investigator: "What kind of job tests whether your account is working properly?"
Hsiao-ling: (starting to sob) "...I can only say that at the time... how do I put it... myself... was desperate to find a job..."
Investigator: "I'll ask you again, stop dragging other things into this. Did you or did you not ask the company why they wanted to test your account!?"
Hsiao-ling: "I did ask."
Investigator: "You asked, and he didn't answer you! Yet you still provided it?"
Hsiao-ling: (sobbing) "...I'm sorry... (sniffs)"
Investigator: "Do you know the real personal details of the person who took your ATM card?"
Hsiao-ling: "I really don't know this; he only told me his name, phone number, and address..."
Investigator: "When you applied for the job, did you already know that you were applying to an underground gambling den, an illegal industry?"
Hsiao-ling: "Um..."
Investigator: "And you say you didn't aid and abet fraud!"
Hsiao-ling: "...(sobs)"
Investigator: "Do you confess to being involved in aiding and abetting fraud?"
Hsiao-ling: "Um, I confess. I made the wrong decision at the time... (sniffs)"

Consequently, Hsiao-ling was indicted.

A Tumultuous Trial Process: Guilty, Not Guilty, Final Guilty Verdict

Because the prosecutor filed a motion for summary judgment, there was no court hearing at the first instance, and Hsiao-ling was directly convicted. Hsiao-ling appealed the judgment, and surprisingly, the ruling was overturned to not guilty. The turning point for the acquittal was that Hsiao-ling actually provided the Yahoo Messenger chat logs showing her communication process with the fraud syndicate, which clearly demonstrated how the syndicate step-by-step gained her trust in order to defraud her of her account. After the acquittal, it was the prosecutor's turn to appeal dissatisfaction, and Hsiao-ling was once again convicted. The grounds for the reversal to guilty were that the judge believed Hsiao-ling had additional phone conversations with the fraud syndicate, and both parties might have coordinated everything over the phone.

The Presumption of Innocence Left in Textbooks

Hsiao-ling shared that during the final trial instance where she was convicted, she actually told the judge that the prosecutorial investigator's attitude was very poor, aggressive, and loud. Although she was not a criminal, she was frightened by him into feeling that she truly had done something wrong. Under pressure and in a state of tension, she didn't really know what she was saying. "Although the audio recording was played in court, the judge didn't seem to think anything was amiss. But since they weren't the ones experiencing it firsthand, how could they understand what we felt?" Hsiao-ling explained with a wry smile. At that moment, we suddenly realized that the so-called principle of the presumption of innocence perhaps exists only in textbooks, while in reality, very few people truly implement it.