The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) yesterday released a list of the top five companies most susceptible to hackers, warning the public to beware of scams using personal information obtained from the businesses.
Gourmet buffet operator Feast Together, World Gym, Caco Clothing, LiTV and Century Asia Theater were the companies most at risk in the first quarter, the bureau said in a statement.
Canceling payment plans is the most common scam method, it said.
Photo: Lin Chia-tung, Taipei Times
Hackers access systems or commissioned company data archives to steal names, phone numbers, expense information and payment methods, then use the information to scam people into entering their banking information, the bureau said.
Victims are often told that a clerk typed in the wrong membership information or accidentally registered customers as retailers, it said.
They are then asked to phone someone pretending to be a bank teller, who asks them to make a transfer or buy online game credits for an account belonging to the scammers, the bureau said.
In the first quarter, there were 59 reports of people being scammed by hackers impersonating Feast Together staffers, 35 involving World Gym, 16 involving Caco Clothing, 12 involving LiTV and 11 involving Century Asia Theater, it said.
The bureau said it issues a weekly notice to vendors who are linked to such cases more than five times and are suspected of having their customer information leaked, adding that it recommends they put warnings on their Web sites.
The bureau also said it makes periodical announcements using its 165 anti-scam hotline and affiliate channels to warn consumers which businesses are being targeted by scammers.
The bureau also reported an increase in e-commerce platform scams, saying hackers contact buyers posing as sellers and tell them that their purchase did not go through.
Victims are given links, QR codes or Line IDs that purportedly connect them to banking personnel who “handle the problem,” it said.
Additional reporting by Chiu Chun-fu
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS