Taipei prosecutors charge police officers over alleged illegal access to 901 phone records

A Taipei police officer and a retired colleague allegedly turned access to communications records into a paid service for private lenders, prosecutors said. The two are accused of obtaining 901 records and collecting at least NT$7.208 million.

The case first emerged from the investigation into the “88 Club” underground money-exchange network linked to businessman Kuo Che-min. Investigators found that the group possessed personal data, with more than 10 records allegedly pointing to serving officer Liu Zhengdao. Prosecutors suspect Liu supplied unlawfully obtained information through retired Wanhua police officer Zheng Bixin and received at least NT$88,000.

Further scrutiny uncovered a broader arrangement. Prosecutors said that from October 2018 to February 2020, Liu and Zheng accessed 518 telephone call or two-way communications records for lender Zhang Xu-sheng. The lender allegedly paid NT$8,000 for each number. Zheng kept NT$3,000 per record, while Liu received NT$5,000, giving them a combined total of at least NT$7.208 million across two rounds of alleged activity.

Zheng allegedly used the code phrase “Hong number” when requesting or confirming a search. Because he lacked authority to obtain communications data, prosecutors say he passed requested numbers to Liu, who entered false investigative purposes into the police system or uploaded warrant scans from unrelated cases.

In a second period, from 2021 to 2022, Zheng allegedly worked with another lender, Chen Zhi-quan. Prosecutors say Liu used false case information and obtained three colleagues’ approval credentials from government computers, then used their authority to approve 383 searches. Liu also faces charges related to unauthorized access to government computers and electronic records. The alleged lenders and another intermediary are being investigated separately.