The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday warned the public against a fraud scheme in which scammers pretending to be Chinese embassy or police officials target US-based Taiwanese.
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Washington and representative offices in Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and Miami have received reports of telecom fraud, Department of North American Affairs Deputy Director-General Regine Chen (陳慧蓁) said.
“The scammers have changed their tactics. There have been several reports of telephone calls received by US-based Taiwanese and students in which alleged scammers pretended to be working for Chinese embassies or the Chinese police force,” she said.
The scammers tried to obtain personal information or money by claiming that there is an important document addressed to them or that their identity has been stolen, Chen said.
Victims have been defrauded out of sums ranging from US$15,000 to US$180,000, she added.
A Taiwanese student studying in Ohio received a telephone call from someone who claimed to be working for Deutsche Post DHL Group, she said.
The caller “claimed that a parcel that the student had sent to Shanghai had been intercepted, but the student denied having sent anything. The caller then told the student that his identify could have been stolen, before forwarding the call to a ‘Chinese police officer,’” Chen said.
The supposed police officer asked the student for his passport number “to file a report” and told him that he had engaged in transnational money laundering and was wanted by Shanghai prosecutors, she said.
After the student denied any wrongdoing, the scammer offered to help him clear his name on the condition that the student supply his personal information, including bank account number, and deposit at least US$10,000 in a bank account, Chen said.
The student did not fall for the scam and contacted a DHL office, which told him that it has received many similar inquiries, she said.
Chen urged Taiwanese expatriates to contact their local police if they receive such calls and to apply for a new passport if they fear that their passport information might have been stolen.
The ministry issued a similar warning in June, after many US-based Taiwanese reported receiving telephone calls from people with Chinese accents posing as representative office staff.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all