French hypermart operator Carrefour plans to buy back more than NT$100 million in gift certificates after police seized more than NT$30 million in fake vouchers over the weekend.
Customers returning genuine certificates will receive the cash value of the vouchers plus NT$50 for their troubles.
"We are the biggest victim," Allan Tien (田中玉), a Carrefour spokesman, said yesterday.
Tien said the NT$50 was to compensate loyal customers for the "inconvenience" of not being able to use their certificates while Carrefour worked out the counterfeiting problem.
According to local media reports yesterday, consumers became enraged when they learned they wouldn't be able to make purchases with Carrefour gift certificates. They took their complaints to the Consumer Protection Commission.
Carrefour halted acceptance of NT$500 and NT$1,000 gift certificates on Saturday after an "organized crime group" flooded Kaohsiung and Taoyuan stores with hundreds of bogus NT$1,000 vouchers.
The gift-certificate recall runs from today through Feb. 24. With the move, the French company hopes to stem further losses.
"To prevent more people from taking advantage of Carrefour, we've decide to recall our gift certificates," said Kao Chih-hua (
In recent months, Carrefour, which has 23 stores nationwide, has found a small number of counterfeit vouchers in its cashier's tills.
But bigger action was needed after a busload of senior citizens arrived at the Kaohsiung store armed with fake certificates. According to Tien, the bus passengers bought up cell phones, imported wines and electronics with the bogus vouchers.
Carrefour subsequently turned to Kaohsiung and Taoyuan police for help.
Several suspects who were apprehended told authorities they were paid NT$1,000 each to purchase high-end electronics worth several thousand NT dollars.
On Saturday, investigators in Taoyuan also nabbed several suspects who were found with more than NT$30 million in fake Carrefour gift certificates in their vehicle.
On the same day, another NT$2 million in fake vouchers were dumped in a Kaohsiung-area park.
The large scale of the counterfeiting prompted Carrefour to scrap its entire gift-certificate program.
"We have no estimate of how many fake certificates are in circulation," Kao said. "I believe the number to be quite significant."
According to Tien, Saturday was not the first time shoppers have passed counterfeit gift certificates. "We spotted some gangsters cashing some fake coupons prior to last week," Tien said.
The company reportedly took in nearly NT$1 million in counterfeits through Saturday, he added.
Carrefour began selling gift certificates about four years ago and has enjoyed 10 percent year-on-year sales growth since then.
Last year the company's sales of gift certificates hit NT$600 million. Lunar New Year is peak season for gift certificates, and the hypermart reportedly sold NT$150 million last month alone.
Taiwan, dubbed the kingdom of counterfeiting by the media, suffered from rampant distribution of bogus currency last year.
Taiwan was put on the "Special 301 priority watch list" last year by the Office of the US Trade Representatives for failing to take effective action against commercial piracy.
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
NEGOTIATIONS: The US response to the countermeasures and plans Taiwan presented has been positive, including boosting procurement and investment, the president said Taiwan is included in the first group for trade negotiations with the US, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, as he seeks to shield Taiwanese exporters from a 32 percent tariff. In Washington, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in an interview on Fox News on Thursday that he would speak to his Taiwanese and Israeli counterparts yesterday about tariffs after holding a long discussion with the Vietnamese earlier. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday postponed punishing levies on multiple trade partners, including Taiwan, for three months after trillions of US dollars were wiped off global markets. He has maintained a 10 percent
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
RSS