Announcing a new "anti-fraud calls hotline" service for the public, Premier Yu Shyi-kun said yesterday that even members of his family have received phone calls from fraudsters attempting to extort money.
"The phone number of these kinds of fraudulent phone calls are increasing dramatically ... even my family have received such calls," Yu said.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
"We are going to relentlessly crack down on this crime, and victims of calls from fraudsters a new number in and report them to authorities," he added.
The new number, which was established by the Cabinet, is 165. After dialing the number, a receptionist from the Cabinet will record the details of the incident and provide information to the victim. Although it is a 24-hour service number, it is not toll-free.
In addition to the Cabinet's newly-established number, the National Police Agency (NPA) in April set up a similar services for the public. It is a toll-free number: 0800-018-110.
"The hotline is based inside at agency's headquarters and has eight police officers to take calls from around the country," NPA Director-General Shieh Ing-dan (謝銀黨) said.
Statistics show that ever since police began cracking down on fraud rings three months ago, 5,431 fraud cases have been reported and over 1,372 suspects have been arrested.
Shieh and Yu said fraudsters would call and identify themselves as gangsters and inform the victims that "an enemy" of theirs has hired the them to "do something" to the victim unless money is paid into a specified bank account.
In addition to these kinds of threats, some fraud groups attempt to dupe people out of their by telling victims that they are elligable for tax returns, but a small deposit is required into a certain bank account ensure the transaction.
Recently, some fraudsters have been using different excuses, such as telling victims that members of their family have been kidnapped or that family members have been involved in a car accident and money should be wired to a bank account immediately.
Police say that fraud rings are always able to prevent their number from appearing on the victims cellphone or caller ID.
The NPA's Criminal Investigation Bureau Commissioner Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said police discovered that most of these fraud rings are based in Xiamen, China, so their caller ID cannot be traced. In the meantime, the bureau has sent agents to Xiamen find the perpetrators, but officers cannot arrest them because they are out of their jurisdiction -- although they have collected sufficient evidence of their guilt.
"We have sought cooperation the Chinese police, but they told us that since these people are breaking Taiwanese laws, they can be of no help," Hou said. "Under the circumstances, they basically cannot do anything about it. We are still working on some other potential solutions regarding this problem," he added.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
RSS