A Taiwan fraud loss: the damages claim inside the criminal case

Money sent to a Taiwan account, a crypto platform, or a person who promised an investment return does not come back because a criminal complaint was filed. The complaint asks a prosecutor or a judicial police officer to look at a suspected offense. A damages claim is a separate request. One way to make that request, after criminal proceedings have been instituted in court, is an ancillary civil action under Code of Criminal Procedure Article 487.

A complaint or a report may be written or oral. An oral one is taken down in a transcript. Article 242. Whether the facts are fraud under Criminal Code Article 339 — using deception with intent unlawfully to appropriate property for oneself or a third party, or obtaining an unlawful property benefit for oneself or a third party by that means, with attempts also punishable — is a question for the investigation. The statute's range is up to five years, detention, or a fine of up to NT$500,000, and the fine may be imposed alone or with the other penalties. That statutory range does not predict the sentence in an individual case.

If the other side is an actual virtual-asset business rather than a site imitating one, the registration and withdrawal issues are discussed in crypto exchange and VASP disputes.

The filing window once the criminal case reaches court

A person harmed by an offense may, inside the criminal proceeding, sue the defendant and anyone else who is liable under the Civil Code, and ask to be restored. The scope of that request follows the Civil Code. Article 487. Civil Code Article 184 makes a person who intentionally or negligently and unlawfully infringes another's right liable for damages, and it also covers intentional harm by a method contrary to good morals, and harm caused by violating a statute that protects others, unless the actor proves an absence of negligence. Article 487 allows the claim to name a person who is civilly liable even if that person is not the criminal defendant. It does not say that every account which received a transfer is liable.

The action may be filed once criminal proceedings have been instituted in court, by indictment or private prosecution, and before oral argument ends in the second instance. It may not be filed after oral argument ends in the first instance and before an appeal. Article 488. If nobody appeals, the chance ends when first-instance argument ends. During an investigation, before the case is brought to court, this action is not available. A standalone civil suit does not wait for prosecution.

It is filed by a written complaint with the court. The complaint follows the Code of Civil Procedure. Article 492. A claimant who is in court on the trial date may file orally, stating what the written complaint would have stated, and that statement goes into the transcript. If the other party is absent, or is present and asks that the transcript be served, the transcript must be served on the other party. Article 495.

Except where this part of the Code says otherwise, criminal procedure applies. Once the case is transferred, remanded, or sent to a civil division, the Code of Civil Procedure applies. Article 490. Evidence already examined in the criminal case is treated as examined for the ancillary claim, and the ancillary parties or their representatives may comment on it. Article 499. The ancillary judgment is based on the facts found in the criminal judgment, unless the judgment rests on a waiver. Article 500. The two judgments are delivered together. Article 501.

Acquittal, complexity, and a case that never reached prosecution

If the court finds the ancillary claim unlawful or groundless, it dismisses it by judgment. If it finds the claim well founded, it enters judgment against the defendant in line with the relief requested. Article 502.

If the criminal judgment is an acquittal (無罪), a 免訴 judgment, or a 不受理 judgment, the court dismisses the ancillary claim by judgment. If the claimant asks, the court transfers the claim to the civil division that has jurisdiction. That dismissal can be appealed only together with an appeal from the criminal judgment. Article 503 generally requires litigation fees (訴訟費用) for the transfer. Any special relief under Article 54 of the Fraud Crime Hazard Prevention Act depends on meeting that Act’s requirements. When a private prosecution is rejected by ruling, the court rejects the ancillary claim by ruling, and the same three rules apply. Article 503.

If the court finds the ancillary claim too complicated to finish without a long delay, it may transfer the claim to that court's civil division by a collegiate ruling. If there are not enough judges to form the panel, the president of the court makes the ruling. The transferred case is exempt from adjudication fees (裁判費), and there is no interlocutory appeal. Article 504. In a summary criminal case, Article 501 or 504 applies. A transfer under that article is exempt from adjudication fees (裁判費用), and there is no interlocutory appeal from the ruling. Article 505.

A standalone civil suit does not wait for prosecution. It is not bound to the facts found in the criminal judgment under Article 500. It also does not receive Article 504's fee exemption merely because a criminal file exists.

Provisional attachment holds assets. It does not award them

A creditor who wants to preserve later enforcement of a money claim, or of a claim that can be turned into money, may apply for provisional attachment. The claim may be conditional or not yet due. Code of Civil Procedure Article 522. Attachment is refused unless there is a risk that later enforcement will be impossible or very difficult. Having to enforce abroad counts as that kind of difficulty. Article 523. The creditor must make a preliminary showing of the claim and of the reason for attachment. If the showing is short, and the creditor offers security or the court thinks it appropriate, the court may set security and then grant the attachment. The court may require security even when the showing is made. Article 526. Paragraph 4 of Article 526 caps security at one tenth only for a claim between spouses for distribution of residual marital property (剩餘財產差額分配請求權). That cap is not the fraud rule.

Inside an ancillary civil action, the Code of Civil Procedure rules on provisional attachment, provisional injunction, and provisional execution apply. Code of Criminal Procedure Article 491, item 10. An attachment, if the court grants it, keeps property in place for a later judgment. It is not the judgment.

A temporary fee exemption exists only for a defined fraud offense

The Fraud Crime Hazard Prevention Act defines "fraud crime" as the aggravated fraud offense in Criminal Code Article 339-4, the offenses in Articles 43 and 44 of the Act, and other offenses that are in a single-adjudication relationship with those. Article 2. Article 339-4 is Article 339 fraud committed in one of these ways: falsely using the name of a government agency or a public official; committed jointly by three or more persons; disseminating it to the public through broadcast television, electronic communications, the internet, or other media; or making a false image, voice, or electromagnetic record of another person by computer synthesis or another technological method. The stated range is imprisonment of one to seven years, and a fine of up to NT$1,000,000 may be added. An attempt is also punishable. Article 339-4. That range is the statute's, not a predicted sentence. A private pitch that does not meet one of those circumstances is not, on that ground alone, inside Article 2.

A victim of a fraud crime so defined, when suing or appealing in a civil case for damages against a person who is legally liable, is for the time being excused from litigation fees (訴訟費用), and from execution fees when applying for compulsory enforcement. If that victim seeks provisional attachment or a provisional injunction to preserve enforcement, the security the court requires under the Code of Civil Procedure may not exceed one tenth of the amount or value claimed. Security for provisional execution is capped the same way. Article 54.

Account warnings, temporary holds, and the return of funds that are still in an account are a different track under the same Act. They are separate from an ancillary civil judgment.

A judgment still needs assets

A damages judgment must still be enforced against reachable assets. If the money has been withdrawn or moved elsewhere, recovery may be impossible even after a successful claim.

The records that still exist should be kept as they are: the date and amount of each transfer, the institution and account that received it, the name the other side used, chats, the site or app, wallet addresses and transaction identifiers, and any report number already issued. Keep original files as well as screenshots so that the surrounding conversation and transaction details remain available.

From outside Taiwan

Article 242 allows a written complaint to a prosecutor or a judicial police officer, so the first report does not depend on walking into a station that day. Arrangements for later statements, bank enquiries and court filings depend on the stage of the case and the relevant institution’s requirements. Instructing a Taiwan lawyer from abroad is covered in hiring a Taiwan lawyer from abroad.

For advice on a damages claim or preserving assets, describe the transfers, correspondence, report number and current stage of the criminal case. Contact Attorney Wei Tseng (曾雋崴), Hovering International Law Firm: wei@hoveringlaw.com.tw. Address: 7F-2, No. 35, Sec. 1, Chengde Rd., Datong Dist., Taipei City 103, Taiwan (103 臺北市大同區承德路一段35號7樓之2).

Official sources

• Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 242, Article 487, Article 488, Article 490, Article 491, Article 492, Article 495, Article 499, Article 500, Article 501, Article 502, Article 503, Article 504, and Article 505.

• Criminal Code, Article 339 and Article 339-4.

• Civil Code, Article 184.

• Code of Civil Procedure, Article 522, Article 523, and Article 526.

• Fraud Crime Hazard Prevention Act, Article 2 and Article 54.

• Criminal Code Enforcement Act Article 1-1: currency of fines.

Checked: October 1, 2026