Over the past few years, fake investment scams have flooded major social media forums and chat platforms across the Internet, creating a major social dilemma. Those ads try to lure people with promises of high profit and low risk, baiting them into joining huge investment chat rooms that ultimately convince them to unwittingly give large amounts of money to complete strangers before kicking them out and blocking them.
The government needs to respond to that issue by adding addendums to the Fraud Crime Hazard Prevention Act (詐欺犯罪危害防制條例), in particular by implementing real-name systems for advertising. Even then, scammers could still use overseas and shell companies to continue placing fraudulent ads, creating challenges for the enforcement of new regulations.
Shell companies are often located outside of Taiwan’s jurisdiction, making it difficult for law enforcement to trace those groups’ identities. Law enforcement once hoped to limit overseas advertising, but authorities were concerned such a move might mistakenly kill off legitimate advertising as well. That concern has led to the stalling of additional legal provisions, allowing criminal rings to continue using overseas resources to advertise fraudulent investments.
To effectively clamp down on fake investment scams, police are urging the Ministry of Digital Affairs to implement source management, demanding that platforms enact strict audits of advertisers. A feasible method would be for platforms to first restrict clients who have uploaded investment scam advertising before from ever again publishing ads on their platform.
Second, the ministry could enforce heavy penalties on platforms that have not complied with the law. Implementing those two actions would raise the costs for scammers seeking to use overseas or shell companies, effectively reducing the volume of fraudulent investment ads.
Criminal Investigation Bureau statistics showed that out of all fake investment ads published on platforms last year, Facebook came was the most-used platform, with more than 119,181 instances. Those ads often claim to be vouched for by well-known or respected company leaders, financial gurus, Internet celebrities and politicians to entice people to join the fraud group’s Line investment chat groups, which in turn fleece viewers.
Those data reveal the severity of fake investment scams and social media platforms’ insufficient response in terms of ad monitoring and management. Although new regulations have placed higher demands on those platforms, their actual enforcement has yet to be seen.
The ministry should bolster supervision of these platforms to ensure the strict enforcement of real-name systems and identity verification mechanisms for advertisers. Platforms must do their best to use technological means to identify and filter fraudulent ads, and reduce the transmission of fraudulent ads at the source, thereby helping lower the workload placed on grassroots anti-fraud personnel. Through multiparty cooperation, we can clamp down on the flood of fake investment scams, and protect the public’s property and assets.
Lin Cheng-wu is a junior-high school teacher.
Translated by Tim Smith
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