TAIPEI - A 16-YEAR-OLD boy who duped Taiwan's former president Chen Shui-bian by posing as a fortune-teller has been arrested on forgery charges, a prosecutor said on Saturday.

The teenager, identified only by his family name Huang, was arrested on forgery charges late on Friday after appearing on television to boast about his scam targeting Chen, the United Daily News said.

The Criminal Investigation Bureau confirmed the arrest without giving details.

The case has caused a media sensation in Taiwan and brought comparisons with Leonardo DiCaprio's character in 2002's 'Catch Me If You Can', with newspapers saying the teenager assumed nine different identities in a series of cons.

Huang reportedly posed as a radio station director, a hotel executive and a British passport holder with two masters degrees, as well as a fortune teller.

He was released by a juvenile court judge later on Saturday pending a further investigation into the charges against him, said a spokesman for the Shihlin district prosecutor's office in Taipei.

Forgery carries a maximum of five years in jail and if convicted, the teenager could be sentenced to a juvenile correctional facility.

Television footage showed Huang in blue T-shirt and jeans and wearing a mask over his face, getting into a taxi after leaving the prosecutor's office without making any comment.

Police recognised Huang from an earlier Internet prostitution case in which he gave false documents showing he was a student aged 23 in order to receive a lighter sentence.

Local media said he had offered sex for money in a gay chatroom before he was caught.

In the latest incident, ex-president Chen Shui-bian has accused Huang of trying to swindle money out of him after the teenager, pretending to be a tarot-card reader, arranged a ritual with three bogus Buddhist monks.

The ex-president has denied Huang's claim that he was given a tarot card reading.

Newspapers have had a field day with the case, claiming that Chen, who is battling corruption allegations, was in tears after received an unfavourable reading.

In further echoes from 'Catch Me If You Can', based on the life of teenage swindler Frank Abagnale Jr, reports have also said Huang never went to high school and is estranged from his parents.

Since leaving office in May, Chen has been targeted by death threats and a blackmailer and was kicked in the rear by an irate radical in July.

He is being investigated for major embezzlement during his eight years as president and has also been implicated in a money-laundering scandal. -- AFP