A fifth wave of operations to crack down on fraud and gangs across the country was launched on Sunday following a spate of extortion cases, the National Police Agency’s (NPA) Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus urged the government to launch a crackdown on people who disrupt public order after reports last week said that a human trafficking ring in Taoyuan was engaged in kidnapping, torture and extortion.
KMT caucus whip William Tseng (曾銘宗), and KMT legislators Lee De-wei (李德維), Hsieh Yi-fong (謝衣鳳) and Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) told a news conference at the legislature that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) had “done nothing” after the reports were published.
The government should take concrete measures against fraud rings that engage in violent crime to protect the safety of jobseekers, Tseng said.
If public order continues to deteriorate, the party would ask Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) and NPA Director-General Huang Ming-chao (黃明昭) to step down, he said.
CIB section head Chiu Shao-chou (邱紹洲), who attended the news conference, said that the NPA on July 15 drew up a plan to combat fraud.
The agency has been scrubbing job advertisements online and taking down any that contain false information, Chiu said, adding that it has so far taken down 65 groups and 151 dubious advertisements that offered excessively high pay.
A mechanism being arranged by the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office to take down fraudulent job advertisements online would be introduced, CIB official Huang Kuo-shih (黃國師) said.
The CIB is to work with the Financial Supervisory Commission to detect abnormal changes in permissible Internet banking transfer amounts, and create and monitor a list of high-risk accounts, he said.
In addition to raising awareness about fraud, the CIB is to implement a protective mechanism alongside communities and real-estate agencies to ensure security in rental homes, he said.
In related news, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that people should be on the alert for fraudulent job ads and not be lured by promises of high-paying jobs abroad.
The NPA has dealt with 693 cases of fraud or human trafficking where people were lured by scam job offers in Cambodia, and as of Monday, 315 such people had not returned to Taiwan, the foreign ministry said.
Although the number of people traveling to Cambodia for work is decreasing, there are still more than 1,000 every week, it said, citing Tourism Bureau data.
The foreign ministry would continue to coordinate and work with other agencies to help bring the people back, Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Director-General Wallace Chow (周民淦) said.
When considering employment abroad, people should ensure that the company is legally registered, examine contracts carefully and apply for positions through registered channels, Chow said.
Additional reporting by Lu Yi-hsuan
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