The Cabinet yesterday announced it would limit monetary transfers made through automatic teller machines (ATM) to NT$30,000 a day after the government came under fire for the Ministry of the Interior's (MOI) announcement that the limit would be set at NT$10,000 a day.
Speaking on behalf of Premier Frank Hsieh (
Starting from June 1, money transfers will be limited to NT$30,000 a day, the statement said. However, transfers for utility payments, tax payments and for specially designated payments or bank accounts will not be restricted.
The MOI the FSC and the Cabinet began receiving a deluge of complaints about the previously proposed restriction of NT$10,000, which had been scheduled to take effect on April 20 due to an increasing number of ATM fraud cases.
"We support our fellow Cabinet members' efforts to stop the fraud cases. However, we must also pay attention to the voice of the people," Cho said.
"The premier said that the previous announcement by the MOI and the FSC was not well organized before it was made public, and that Cabinet members should be more careful in the future."
Cho said that Hsieh held a meeting with related Cabinet members and decided to re-consider the limitation yesterday afternoon.
"Statistics show that most of the ATM money transfers -- about 84.53 percent of them -- are under NT$30,000. As a result, we decided to put the new limitation at NT$30,000 so it will not bother too many people," Cho said.
In the meantime, Cho also encouraged the public to sign up for automated bill payments.
"If everybody signs up for automatic payments, all our monthly bills will be taken care of automatically, and it will save us a lot of difficulty as well," he said.
In the meantime, Kong said that making life more convenient for people will always be a priority for the government, so he would also ask local banks to mail related documents to their clients so they will be able to sign up for automatic payments.
"Long lines are expected at local banks once the new limitation takes effect," Kong said. "To save more time for everybody, we will ask banks to do the registration by mail."
Su said it was definitely necessary to impose the new limitation on ATM money transfers because the police had received reports of approximately 110 fraud cases, totalling NT$300 million, per day involving transfers.
"Police investigations show that most of the suspects of ATM fraud cases committed crimes in China. Unfortunately, we can do nothing about this at the moment, since we do not have jurisdiction in China," Su said.
"For our part, we will keep working on a plan to work with Chinese law enforcement officers so we will be able to arrest these people and bring them back for trial in the future."
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
The Chien Feng IV (勁蜂, Mighty Hornet) loitering munition is on track to enter flight tests next month in connection with potential adoption by Taiwanese and US armed forces, a government source said yesterday. The kamikaze drone, which boasts a range of 1,000km, debuted at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition in September, the official said on condition of anonymity. The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology and US-based Kratos Defense jointly developed the platform by leveraging the engine and airframe of the latter’s MQM-178 Firejet target drone, they said. The uncrewed aerial vehicle is designed to utilize an artificial intelligence computer
Renewed border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia showed no signs of abating yesterday, leaving hundreds of thousands of displaced people in both countries living in strained conditions as more flooded into temporary shelters. Reporters on the Thai side of the border heard sounds of outgoing, indirect fire yesterday. About 400,000 people have been evacuated from affected areas in Thailand and about 700 schools closed while fighting was ongoing in four border provinces, said Thai Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri, a spokesman for the military. Cambodia evacuated more than 127,000 villagers and closed hundreds of schools, the Thai Ministry of Defense said. Thailand’s military announced that
CABINET APPROVAL: People seeking assisted reproduction must be assessed to determine whether they would be adequate parents, the planned changes say Proposed amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法) advanced yesterday by the Executive Yuan would grant married lesbian couples and single women access to legal assisted reproductive services. The proposed revisions are “based on the fundamental principle of respecting women’s reproductive autonomy,” Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) quoted Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), who presided over a Cabinet meeting earlier yesterday, as saying at the briefing. The draft amendment would be submitted to the legislature for review. The Ministry of Health and Welfare, which proposed the amendments, said that experts on children’s rights, gender equality, law and medicine attended cross-disciplinary meetings, adding that
RSS