Forty cases of telephone fraud have been reported since Mandarin Airlines’ (華信航空) database was allegedly hacked last month, the Consumers’ Foundation said yesterday.
One report received by the foundation was from a woman surnamed Chen (陳), who said she purchased two one-way tickets from Taipei to Taitung on Feb. 21 from the airline’s official Web site, paying NT$2,932 (US$96.86 at the current exchange rate) with her credit card.
However, on March 22 she received a telephone call from someone who claimed to be a Mandarin customer service representative who accurately identified her name, phone number, e-mail address, credit card number, the date and amount of the transaction and the date and departure time of the flight, she said.
The caller then informed her that the transaction would be automatically placed on a 12-month installment plan and instructed her to confirm the arrangement through an automated teller machine, she said.
Afterward, her bank account showed 12 payments totaling NT$520,000, she said.
“I entered my ID number as I was told. Like any other customer service representative, the person was polite and patient, so I let my guard down and did not realize that it was a scam until the money was transferred out of my account,” Chen added.
After reporting the alleged fraud to the police on March 23, Chen then asked that Mandarin take joint responsibility, but she said the airline refused to offer any compensation, as it was also a victim.
Foundation chairman Yu Kai-hsiung (游開雄) said its “165” fraud hotline handled 40 cases between March 12 and March 19 of phone calls from alleged Mandarin customer service representatives.
The foundation estimates that the amount of the money lost could exceed NT$3 million.
Yu said the foundation first informed the airline about the telephone fraud on March 13 and for at least 10 consecutive days afterward.
However, Chen did not receive any message from the airline warning her about suspicious phone calls until six days after she reported her case to the police, he said.
The airline clearly did not fulfill its responsibility to warn its customers, Yu said.
If the court determines that there is a causal relationship between Mandarin’s failure to warn their customers in advance and the occurrence of the fraud, the airline would be asked to compensate Chen, the foundation said.
Previous legal cases show that the courts rarely rules for the party that leaked personal information to give fraud victims sizable compensation, it said.
The airline said it had warned its customers about fraud, including through text messages and on its Web site.
Meanwhile, Cola Tours, a travel Web site operated by Comfort Travel Service Co (康福旅行社), was also reportedly hacked.
One victim, who identified herself as “Miss L,” said in an interview with the Chinese-language Apple Daily that on March 7 she booked tickets to the US online through Cola Tours, costing NT$90,000.
She then received a phone call on Tuesday last week from someone who claimed to be an accountant of the agency who told her that her credit card had been charged 10 times because of a clerical error, which led to a payment of NT$1 million.
She said the person told her that she needed to follow the procedures given by the bank that issued the credit card if she wished to stop the fund transfer and that she needed to activate the procedure at an automated teller machine.
Instead of stopping the fund transfers, fraudsters allegedly stole NT$1 million from her account.
Comfort said it would consider what actions to take after the prosecutors conclude their investigations.
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