Shopee and Carousell, two online marketplaces based in Singapore, were the consumer-to-consumer (C2C) platforms on which people in Taiwan were most likely to fall victim to phishing scams over the past five weeks, the Criminal Investigation Bureau said on Sunday last week.
Information reported by the public on the 165 anti-fraud hotline showed that hackers have recently conducted phishing attacks on C2C online auction platforms such as Shopee and Carousell.
The attacks were aimed at stealing personal or business information provided by customers to carry out online transactions, with the information then used to conduct scams such as canceling installment payment setups, the bureau said.
Photo courtesy of Shoppee Taiwan Co Ltd
As Shopee and Carousell are owned by companies in Singapore, they have only a small staff presence in Taiwan, and there are no professional information security teams to assist people in protecting their accounts and passwords after being hacked.
The two online platforms have been referred to the Ministry of Digital Affairs for investigation on suspicion of contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法).
The ministry conducted inspections of the two entities in December last year, and asked both platforms to make improvements, but no concrete action was taken, the bureau said.
Due to the high number of personal data breaches on major online shopping platforms in recent years, the bureau regularly releases a list of e-commerce platforms on which customers are at risk of fraud.
Fraud groups tend to use hackers to steal transaction data — purchase time, product name, amount and payment method — and pose as customer service representatives of the related companies to trick shoppers into transferring money to them online or through an ATM, the bureau said.
From June last year to last month, the bureau has sent notifications related to about 100 e-commerce companies suspected of leaking customers’ personal data to seven ministries, including the Ministry of Digital Affairs, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Culture, it said.
However, only about 10 percent of those e-commerce companies were inspected and required to make improvements, it said.
There is no record of any punishments in the past year, it added.
The number of fraud cases related to the cancelation of installment payment agreements caused by personal information leaks reached nearly 1,000 in just two months, and financial losses have exceeded NT$100 million (US$3.27 million), it said.
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
RSS