Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Mark Ho (何志偉) and DPP New Taipei City Councilor Tai Wei-shan (戴瑋姍) yesterday urged restaurant chain operator Wowprime to curb fraud on its app.
The lawmakers, joined by 20 people who have allegedly had their personal information leaked from the company’s app, told a news conference in Taipei that 38 instances of fraud in New Taipei City have been reported since July last year, costing the targets NT$3.7 million (US$132,044), with NT$730,000 recorded as the largest amount lost in a single attempt.
The lawmakers said that Wowprime is evading corporate social responsibility by not properly addressing the issue.
Photo: Hsieh Chun-lin, Taipei Times
The company’s poor response has left its customers vulnerable, he said.
“Losing several thousands or several millions of dollars might not be significant for Wowprime, but it is for its customers,” Tai said.
A person surnamed Hsieh (謝) said that while celebrating his birthday at Tokiya, a Japanese eatery run by Wowprime, he entered his personal information on the app, which he said was later used against him fraudulently.
Another person surnamed Wang (王), who led a class-action lawsuit against the company, said that the fraudsters knew when and at which Wowprime restaurant branch people had dined at, as well the amount spent, deceiving them into believing that the person who called them was providing customer service.
Wowprime later yesterday said that it had also been the victim of fraud in the past few years.
The company said that it has sent more than 5 million text messages to its customers warning them of possible scams and informing them that it would never ask customers for bank information over the telephone nor ask them to transfer money online or through an ATM.
The most common form of fraud employed last year, with 4,094 cases reported, involved asking victims to use ATMs to cancel installment plans, National Police Agency data showed.
Criminal Investigation Bureau data showed that Wowprime was ranked the third-riskiest consumer site and was associated with nearly 600 instances of fraud last year, said Chen Tang-bo (陳唐博), convener of the Social Safety Net for Daan and Wenshan districts.
Customers should report suspicious phone calls to the 165 Anti-fraud Hotline, he added.
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