Premier Yu Shyi-kun congratulated law enforcement agents yesterday for stemming fraud by reducing the number of cases from a year ago last month by a quarter.
There were 533 people arrested in connection with 37 fraud rings last month, and the number of fraud cases was down 25.65 percent from the corresponding month last year.
Yu thanked the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Education and the Government Information Office for backing various operations.
The premier urged the Ministry of Justice to prosecute fraud cases to the fullest extent of the law.
He described a common fraud in which a perpetrator pretends to be a tax official and tells an unsuspecting person to use his ATM card to pick up his tax return.
If the victims fall for this, they will actually end up transferring their money to a bank account used by the criminal.
Another scam involves criminals who pose as hospital workers and call people saying that one of their friends or relatives has been in an accident and requires the immediate transfer of cash to pay for treatment.
In the same way, the money ends up in the accounts of the perpetrators and the "accident" turns out to be bogus.
False kidnapping reports have also been used by criminals to bilk individuals.
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