Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) urged people to be aware of telephone scams ahead of Mother’s Day, as many people are expected to be purchasing gifts online, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday.
Chiang and Taipei City Police Department Commissioner Chang Jung-hsing (張榮興) recently spoke with the city government’s Taipei Broadcasting Station about raising awareness of fraud and scams ahead of Mother’s Day on Sunday.
During the interview, Chiang talked about his friends and relatives who have been scammed, and told people to remember three tips to prevent phone scams: listen, hang up and fact-check.
Photo: CNA
The National Police Agency tips ask people to first listen for keywords, such as the caller claiming that the person they contacted is suspected of being involved in a criminal act, a victim of identity theft or mistakenly enrolled in a payment installment plan. They might also ask their target to buy online gift cards.
The second step is to hang up immediately after hearing a keyword to avoid giving the caller a chance to keep the scam going.
The third step is to fact-check the call by contacting the government’s 165 anti-fraud hotline to check if the phone number is legitimate, or to report it.
The Taipei City Police Department has received more than 500 reports of phone scams this year, Chang said, adding that it has led to losses of more than NT$99 million (US$3.22 million).
A recent common scam is a caller pretending to be a representative of an online retailer to discuss a product the person they contacted bought, and claiming that the company mistakenly enrolled them in a payment installment plan and needed their help to cancel it, he said.
The interview is to be broadcast today at 10:20am on FM93.1, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said.
Separately, when asked about Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou’s (郭台銘) remarks that each city and county should build a small modular nuclear reactor, Chiang said he would not comment on personal opinions, adding that it was good if Gou’s comments can spark a discussion on the issue.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
RSS