Seventy-two percent of the public feel that the increasing number of fraud cases has become a national security issue, while nearly 90 percent said the government should enable the courts to hand down tougher penalties to scammers, a survey conducted by the Grassroots Influence Foundation showed on Friday.
A slight majority of the public — 53 percent — said they are not satisfied with government efforts to crack down on fraud, with only 27 percent of respondents approving of the government’s handling of fraud, and 20 percent having no opinion, the survey showed.
The survey also showed that 92 percent of Taiwanese have received telephone calls or text messages from suspected fraudsters.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The result showed that 82 percent agree that punishment for fraudsters is too lenient, and 88 percent would like the government to allow for tougher sentences.
The survey was conducted from April 18 to 21, with 1,071 valid responses, and claimed a margin of error of 3 percent.
“The government should undertake thorough analysis to determine which demographics are prone to fraud, then draft prevention measures,” foundation convener for public surveys Yen Yung-shen (顏永森) said. “Instead, the government has a scattershot approach of sending public alerts.”
Yen said he would like to see harsher sentences for fraud.
The government should commission experts to study emerging scam methods and preventive measures, Yen said.
“It must stamp out the leaders of these crime rings and better educate the public on how to avoid becoming victims,” he added.
Anti-fraud efforts should also focus on the occupations and education of victims, and examine the social issues that lead them to being defrauded, criminology professor Cheng Jui-lung (鄭瑞隆) said.
Criminal justice professor Wang Po-chi (王伯頎) urged the government to focus on applying science and technology to combat crime, as fraudsters are continually developing new methods to defraud people.
The government must also adopt “strategic thinking” to develop countermeasures, social science professor Tseng Kung-chiu (曾冠球) said.
In response to criticism of what some say are light penalties for fraud, National Police Agency officials said that government agencies have pushed amendments to enable heavier sentences.
These include amendments to the Criminal Code, the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法), the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法) and the Securities Investment Trust and Consulting Act (證券投資信託及顧問法).
Meanwhile, the Cabinet on Thursday implemented an updated version of an anti-fraud action plan, in which the National Communications Commission (NCC) would collaborate with telecom services with a new application that blocks fraudulent telephone calls from foreign sources, the agency said yesterday.
The application intercepted more than 100,000 such calls on the first day of use on Thursday, the NCC said.
More than 90 percent of fraudulent calls come from foreign sources, using software to display numbers that appear to be domestic banks or government agencies, the NCC said.
NCC officials said the new application can differentiate scam calls from legitimate foreign companies and Taiwanese calling from abroad.
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