The Cabinet on Thursday approved several bills on fraud, including a proposed fraud prevention act and amendments, that would raise the penalty for convicted scammers, hold online platforms more accountable for fraudulent content and increase police surveillance powers.
The fraud prevention bill proposes a sentence of three to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to NT$30 million (US$925,555) for those found guilty of severe fraud and tougher sentences for main offenders if the crime involved three or more coconspirators, as well as repeat offenders.
Proposed amendments to existing laws include requiring foreign-based online platforms, such as Facebook, Google and TikTok, to register with the government and have a legal representative in Taiwan, disclose their advertising clients and remove scam content or face heavy fines.
On the same day the bills were sent to the legislature for review and passed, a woman surnamed Li (李) wrote on Facebook that “Taiwan is a scammer’s heaven,” sparking wide discussions.
Her 76-year-old father, who was living alone in Taiwan, had joined a stock group chat on the messaging app Line and was tricked into transferring the ownership of a house worth NT$30 million to a scammer, Li said, adding that the police were cold and told her father to be mentally prepared that he might not get his money back.
She was “confused and disappointed at Taiwan’s law-based society,” Li said. “Facing the rampant fraud syndicates using technology and the Internet to scam elderly people, does the government not care at all?”
Li’s post was widely shared, sparking a range of comments, including speculation that it was fake and part of “cognitive warfare” to undermine trust in the government, condemnation that Li was blaming society for her father’s greed and ignorance and did not care enough for her father, and criticism of the government’s anti-fraud efforts and light penalties for offenders. Only a few comments were sympathetic toward her family and urged care for the elderly.
Regardless of the authenticity of her claims, Li was too quick to decry Taiwan as a “scammer’s heaven,” as data from many countries show that scams are rising globally and rapidly as technology changes.
Taiwanese lost more than NT$8.8 billion to fraud in 37,823 cases reported last year, a significant increase from the NT$4.25 billion lost in 23,054 cases in 2020, National Police Agency data showed.
The US Federal Trade Commission received 2.6 million fraud reports, with losses of more than US$10 billion last year, the agency said.
Meanwhile, people in the UK lost more than ￡1.2 billion (US$1.5 billion) to fraud in 2022 and it has become the most common crime in the country, UK Finance said.
In many countries, including Taiwan, victims are unwilling to report fraud, because they are ashamed, are angry with themselves, feel stupid or worry that they would be blamed, studies have shown.
Scams that target older people are also on the rise, as their social isolation, lack of tech literacy, diminishing cognitive capacity and higher monetary resources can make them vulnerable prey, it added.
While laws are being amended and new technology is being used to curb fraud and pursue fraudsters, private businesses and individuals should also come together and build an anti-fraud ecosystem to fight against progressively sophisticated fraud organizations. Companies should be committed to enhancing security, sharing scam information and protecting customers’ personal data, while people should show empathy and stop victim blaming — so that open and positive discussions of people’s experiences can help expose the scope and methods of fraudsters — raise public awareness and support other individuals in getting help.
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