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September 16, 2015

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Mystery of 鈥榸ero risk鈥 online firm

An online marketing company that claimed to have Google and Yahoo among its business partners is said to have cheated thousands of Taiwan investors out of a total of NT$2.5 billion (US$77 million) since last year, authorities said yesterday.

OurPPC, which calls itself a pay-per-click management company, offered individuals the chance to invest in Internet search keywords, saying they could earn up to a 23 percent return within 50 days, the investigation bureau of Taiwan鈥檚 justice authorities said. The firm described risks as 鈥渃lose to zero.鈥

The group organized a tour to Macau in July for anyone who put US$10,000 into the scheme, and as many as 2,400 people signed up, investigators said.

鈥淎ccording to our information on hand, we can鈥檛 assert the company actually exists,鈥 an official in the bureau鈥檚 economic crime department told reporters, adding that the amount of money obtained could be even higher.

鈥淭he amount is our preliminary finding,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t appears the money has been moved overseas.鈥

One man, surnamed Lin, is in custody, while another seven who were detained on Monday have been released on bail.

On its website, OurPPC says its core business is to help clients drive traffic to websites by identifying keywords used in searches.

It lists its headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and its CEO as Peter Anderson, a graduate of Poland鈥檚 Wroclaw University of Technology.

It claimed a turnover of US$15 million in 2013.


 

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