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.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS