The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a slew of bills targeting fraud by raising the penalty for convicted scammers, increasing police surveillance powers and compelling social media platforms to remove scam advertisements.
The bills aim to build a legal framework to aid the government’s fight against fraud, Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) told a news conference in Taipei also attended by Vice Premier Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦), Minister Without Portfolio Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成), Ministry of Justice representative Kuo Yung-fa (郭永發) and Minister of Digital Affairs Audrey Tang (唐鳳) after an Executive Yuan meeting.
A proposed anti-fraud bill would define severe fraud as actions that cost victims NT$10 million (US$308,071) or more in losses, the officials said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Severe fraud would be punishable by a sentence of three to 10 years and a fine of up to NT$30 million, they said.
A 50 percent sentencing enhancement would be applied to main offenders if the crime involved three or more co-conspirators, impersonation of government officials or use of deepfake technology, they said.
Repeat offenders would be subject to harsher sentences for each new conviction and lose the possibility of parole on their third jail sentence for committing severe fraud, they said.
The punishment could be lessened or remitted if the offender surrenders before the crime is discovered and returns all ill-gotten gains, the officials said.
Cooperation with authorities resulting in the main offender’s identification could also reduce or remit the penalty, they added.
A separate technological surveillance and protection draft act would empower police to use snooping devices, they said.
Police surveillance is to be governed by increasingly strict scrutiny with privacy violation and power abuse concerns in mind, officials said.
The bill defines conditions in which the use of surveillance devices is acceptable, they said, adding that previous rules governing the destruction of data obtained by snooping still apply.
Authorization of the use of GPS trackers, fake cell towers and thermal imagers or other devices capable of surveillance without physical intrusion would be subject to the least, intermediate and highest levels of scrutiny respectively, they said.
The bundle of bills included amendments requiring foreign-based social media platforms to register and have a legal representative in Taiwan to ensure compliance with measures targeting advertisements for scams, officials said.
Platforms that operate without a legal representative or do not comply with government orders to remove an ad would be subject to a fine of NT$2.5 million to NT$25 million, they said.
Severe breaches of the act could lead to other sanctions, including bandwidth limits and being blocked from the Internet in Taiwan, they said.
The standards for applying the proposed legislation on platforms are to be established administratively and would likely encompass Facebook, TikTok and Google, Tang said.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS