An increasing number of fraud cases involved the Internet this year, Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said yesterday at an inter-agency meeting on anti-fraud strategies.
“The number of fraudulent telephone calls reported from January to last month decreased by 16.37 percent compared with the same period last year,” Jiang said. “However, cases of fraud committed via the Internet rose by 16.34 percent from January to last month compared with last year.”
Telephone and Internet fraud are ranked second and third respectively on a list of top 10 complaints compiled by an online poll conducted by the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission last month.
While the drop in telephone fraud shows that the government’s anti-fraud campaign has been effective, the increased use of the Internet in crime was worrisome, since “it may be harder to catch offenders if the fraud is committed via the Internet,” the minister said.
Cross-strait collaboration on prosecuting fraudulent organizations was a key task because many such organizations are based in China, he said.
“Since cross-strait anti-fraud collaboration began in June, we’ve cracked down on seven such organizations, arresting 210 people, of whom 147 are Taiwanese and 63 Chinese,” he said.
A National Police Agency official highlighted a case last month in which Taiwanese and Chinese authorities arrested 17 individuals allegedly belonging to a fraud ring in a coordinated move in Taiwan and Fujian Province.
“Cross-border criminal activities are increasing. We urge the public to not hesitate to dial the 165 anti-fraud hotline or report to the nearest police station whenever they receive a suspicious call or e-mail or discover suspicious Internet sites,” Jiang said. “Please help us crack down on fraud by submitting tips.”
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