Announcing a new "anti-fraud calls hotline" service for the public, Premier Yu Shyi-kun said yesterday that even members of his family have received phone calls from fraudsters attempting to extort money.
"The phone number of these kinds of fraudulent phone calls are increasing dramatically ... even my family have received such calls," Yu said.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
"We are going to relentlessly crack down on this crime, and victims of calls from fraudsters a new number in and report them to authorities," he added.
The new number, which was established by the Cabinet, is 165. After dialing the number, a receptionist from the Cabinet will record the details of the incident and provide information to the victim. Although it is a 24-hour service number, it is not toll-free.
In addition to the Cabinet's newly-established number, the National Police Agency (NPA) in April set up a similar services for the public. It is a toll-free number: 0800-018-110.
"The hotline is based inside at agency's headquarters and has eight police officers to take calls from around the country," NPA Director-General Shieh Ing-dan (謝銀黨) said.
Statistics show that ever since police began cracking down on fraud rings three months ago, 5,431 fraud cases have been reported and over 1,372 suspects have been arrested.
Shieh and Yu said fraudsters would call and identify themselves as gangsters and inform the victims that "an enemy" of theirs has hired the them to "do something" to the victim unless money is paid into a specified bank account.
In addition to these kinds of threats, some fraud groups attempt to dupe people out of their by telling victims that they are elligable for tax returns, but a small deposit is required into a certain bank account ensure the transaction.
Recently, some fraudsters have been using different excuses, such as telling victims that members of their family have been kidnapped or that family members have been involved in a car accident and money should be wired to a bank account immediately.
Police say that fraud rings are always able to prevent their number from appearing on the victims cellphone or caller ID.
The NPA's Criminal Investigation Bureau Commissioner Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said police discovered that most of these fraud rings are based in Xiamen, China, so their caller ID cannot be traced. In the meantime, the bureau has sent agents to Xiamen find the perpetrators, but officers cannot arrest them because they are out of their jurisdiction -- although they have collected sufficient evidence of their guilt.
"We have sought cooperation the Chinese police, but they told us that since these people are breaking Taiwanese laws, they can be of no help," Hou said. "Under the circumstances, they basically cannot do anything about it. We are still working on some other potential solutions regarding this problem," he added.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
RSS