Two legislators on Thursday called on the government to help social welfare groups, which they said have lost NT$940 million (US$33.66 million) as a result of fraud incidents this year.
From January to Aug. 8, there have been 2,612 incidents of online scams targeting donors to social welfare groups, leading to NT$940 million in losses, which was NT$410 million more than last year, when there were 1,215 fewer incidents, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yi-hua (林奕華) told a news conference in Taipei.
Lin and Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Tai-yuan (邱泰源) said that fraudsters would use personal information of donors to attempt to convince them to wire money to the scammers.
Photo: CNA
Lin called on the National Police Agency to step up efforts to arrest scammers and for the agency to list Internet fraud as an important issue affecting public safety.
Childhood Cancer Foundation president Lin Tung-tsan (林東燦) said that his foundation had contacted their Internet management company and reported a hacking incident to the police.
He said the foundation was sorry that donors have been affected by the incident, adding that they have asked the company to step up protection of donors’ personal information.
Cardiac Children’s Foundation Taiwan executive officer Wang Chu-ko (王主科) said that hackers had compromised a third-party Internet software firm to obtain the personal information of its donors.
Wang said that the third-party company should take full responsibility for the incident, adding that donors should be on alert for fraud attempts, especially during hours when the foundation is closed, which would make it difficult to verify if the person contacting them was actually from the foundation.
Raising Children Medical Foundation president Wu Chun-fu (吳春福) said that the public should stay alert while continuing to support nonprofits, which provide much-needed aid to disadvantaged families amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
National Taiwan University Children’s Health Foundation president Wu Mei-huan (吳美環) said that her foundation had reached out to its donors and urged them to be careful after a hacking incident, adding that these scams could deter people from donating to a good cause.
The Criminal Investigation Bureau said that its 165 Anti-Fraud and Internet Scam Hotline has been alerted to multiple incidents starting late last month, and the bureau has issued news releases to warn the public.
It is looking into the information security measures used by companies that managed foundations’ online operations, it said, adding that it was searching for domestic perpetrators and would reach out to agencies abroad to stop international criminals.
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