■ CRIME
23 nabbed in phone scam
Police said yesterday they had arrested 23 suspects in a large phone scam that had conned hundreds of thousands of yuan from people in China. The suspects allegedly obtained bank account details by posing on the phone as Chinese police officers or employees at Chinese banks and telecoms companies, the Criminal Investigation Bureau said. They reportedly “notified” their victims that their accounts were being used for money-laundering or that their phone bills were overdue, later using the details to empty the bank accounts, the bureau said. The 23 were arrested in several raids on Thursday.
■ POLITICS
Legislature still deadlocked
The legislature remained in deadlock yesterday as the Democratic Progressive Party and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucuses continued to disagree over whether to include a ban on “risky” beef products from the US in a proposed amendment to the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生管理法). Both caucuses said the legislature will likely deal with the issue after local government elections next Saturday. Meanwhile, Chu Cheng-chi (朱正騏), a doctoral student who previously ate a cow dung hamburger to protest the easing of the ban on US beef, publicized the mobile phone numbers of KMT lawmakers who have endorsed the party's proposed amendment to the act at the legislature. Chu urged the public to call the legislators to express their discontent. KMT caucus secretary-general Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) said the caucus could sue Chu for revealing private information.
■ CRIME
Fake card ring busted
Investigators said yesterday they had busted a credit card counterfeiting ring, arresting five suspects and seizing 566 fake cards in a raid in Taipei County. The group was suspected of making NT$100 million (US$3 million) in illicit gains by using fake credit cards to buy computers, communications and consumer electronics products and selling them at about 70 percent below market value, Criminal Investigation Bureau officials said. The suspects bought credit card numbers from a Malaysian man, and then used the numbers to produce fake credit cards, officials said. The suspects were transferred to the Banciao District Prosecutors’ Office.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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