Now that COVID-19 has managed to break through Taiwan’s formidable defenses, the nation has finally joined the rest of the world in experiencing the so-called “new normal” of pandemic life. Those who can are working from home, ordering food for delivery and “doomscrolling” to satiate a disquieting hunger for more information.
As in other parts of the world, fraudsters have also found a windfall in exploiting pandemic anxieties.
While this “normal” might not be new, its volume is. The FBI reported a record number of phishing complaints in the US last year, up 69 percent from 2019, while the UK National Cyber Security Centre thwarted more scams last year than in the previous three years combined.
With less than two months of community transmission, Taiwan lacks the same kind of striking data, but there are certain metrics that could serve as indicators. For instance, in the 18 days from May 19 to June 6 alone, local governments received 201 complaints about false advertisements, many of which were for masks and other protective equipment, the Executive Yuan’s Consumer Protection Committee reported.
Tactics have also been adapted with remarkable speed. In one of the more egregious examples, police warned of scammers swapping real-name registration QR codes outside businesses to send a text message to a toll number instead of 1922, all within days of the system’s implementation.
Stay-at-home orders have also provided fertile ground for fraudsters. Aside from increased volumes of old e-commerce scams such as fake advertisements, suddenly the promise of contactless options for any number of services seem more plausible. Tainan police last week reported a number of recent cases involving loan companies promising fast approval online — as long as the client pays certain fees up front.
Even for the most savvy, some schemes can elude detection. Consider the following two scenarios, only one of which is not a scam:
Someone receives a telephone call from someone saying they are a Centers for Disease Control official and that the recipient of the call has been listed as a contact of a confirmed COVID-19 case. The caller then asks for their name, identification number and names of family members.
In another situation, a Tainan resident receives a text from an unknown number, with the sender claiming to be Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲). The message says that subsidies of NT$10,000 per child would be available soon and concludes with a shortened URL. Which is genuine? If you thought the first, you would have been duped by a phishing scheme.
The only way to combat these creative scams is with swift and effective communication. The government has stepped up reporting efforts, with the National Police Agency regularly publicizing the latest fraudulent Line accounts, Web sites and schemes through its 165 anti-fraud hotline, while government agencies disseminate information through their own channels. The media are also doing their part by reporting on new schemes as they arise.
The most exciting innovations are coming from open-source collaborations, which have resulted in chatbots, such as Cofacts, that link databases and make it easy to forward messages for fact-checking.
However, ultimate responsibility lies with individuals to remain vigilant and well-informed. New scams can be evaded simply by stopping to consider whether something seems suspicious.
Included in the FBI report was another figure that gives reason for hope: Even as phishing cases surged by more than 126,000 from 2019, losses were down by US$3.6 million. This proves that with robust reporting and communication, people are becoming more savvy digital consumers, even amid a pandemic. The same can be achieved in Taiwan.
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