TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A male college student was caught secretly filming victims by placing hidden cameras in bathrooms across Taiwan, including in coffee shops and a women's restroom on the campus of National Taiwan University (NTU).
In January, employees at a popular coffee shop in Tainan called the police after discovering a pinhole camera secretly placed inside the bathroom, per UDN. After a police investigation, the perpetrator, a third-year student at the NTU School of Dentistry in Taipei, was found to have secretly filmed dozens of victims in private spaces, including a women’s bathroom at NTU.
Prosecutors said the student, surnamed Tsai (蔡), carefully premeditated his crimes. Tsai reportedly disguised himself on the train to Tainan and rode past the station nearest the coffee shop, before he got off and walked back to install the camera. Afterward, he changed clothes again before returning to his home in Kaohsiung, all to avoid being tracked by police.
At the coffee shop in Tainan, he created a pinhole in the hand soap container, where he hid a small video recorder. Police spent three months collecting evidence to track the suspect’s whereabouts after learning of the camera in the Tainan coffee shop.
When they searched a computer at Tsai's Kaohsiung residence, they found dozens of graphic videos secretly shot in private locations around Taiwan. The victims were both female and male, and they did not know at the time that they were being filmed.
Tsai denied committing the crime, claiming the videos were downloaded from the internet. However, prosecutors detained him to prevent the suspect from destroying any criminal evidence.
Police said that secret filming occurs frequently without victims’ knowledge, including in public restrooms and locker rooms. They warned the public to be vigilant and said if you see anything suspicious, including small objects that could be hidden cameras, to immediately call the police to investigate.