Investigators identified six of the customers as military personnel or police officers, with the fake degrees delivered directly to their barracks.
The Taichung District Prosecutor's Office concluded its investigation on 28/2, indicting Chu and the 9 buyers for forgery and other offenses.
The indictment detailed Chu's operation from 7/2024 to 5/2025. She downloaded templates and graduation seals from various universities online, then inserted buyer information and printed the counterfeit documents.
She then forged the diplomas and sold them through the Shopee online shopping platform, promoting them as "exactly like the real thing" to attract buyers.
The investigation revealed that six individuals, employed in the military and police forces, purchased university and high school diplomas from Chu for 5,000 TWD. One degree was specifically from the Department of Administrative Police at Central Police University.
These six individuals then submitted the fake certificates and diplomas to the human resources departments of their respective agencies, leading to the fraudulent academic credentials being recorded in their official files.
Another man acquired a fake doctor of law degree from National Taiwan University; one individual purchased a master's degree in optoelectronic science and engineering from Feng Chia University, which they later submitted to a major chip manufacturer; and a woman also bought a fake university degree but did not use it.
All buyers confessed, and Shopee order information and chat logs corroborated their statements.
Chu faces charges for forgery of documents and seals, while the 9 buyers are indicted for using forged documents.
Shopee Taiwan promptly removed the fake degree listings from its platform and permanently closed the seller's account to address the incident.
Shopee Taiwan urged all sellers to comply with the law, refrain from listing illegal products, and avoid attempts to bypass platform checks.
Hai Thu (According to SinChew Daily, Ettoday)
