The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) has arrested 17 people in central Taiwan who are suspected of using phishing messages sent to cellphones to steal credit card information and make purchases online.
The bureau’s Telecommunications Investigation Corps and Taichung City Police arrested the suspects during seven raids conducted from October last year to last month, police said.
An investigation was launched after it was discovered that a massive number of suspicious text messages were being sent from specific mobile phone numbers in central Taiwan, they said.
Photo: Reuters
Recipients of the messages — which appeared to be sent from telecom companies, Far Eastern Electronic Toll Collection Co and motor vehicle offices — were told that their “points” were about to expire and they should use them quickly to make purchases, or that they had unpaid toll fees or fuel taxes, police said.
The messages included links to sites where people could enter their credit card information, investigators found. Scammers allegedly used the credit card numbers on Apple Pay, Google Pay and other mobile payment platforms to make purchases online.
Police identified the primary suspect as a Taiwanese man surnamed Tu (杜), saying he had asked Chinese engineers to set up the phishing Web sites and used an SMS gateway device to mass distribute the text messages.
Tu directed his accomplices to use the captured credit card numbers to purchase luxury items, iPhones and points for online games, the police said.
One of the accomplices, surnamed Liao (廖), allegedly obtained 12,000 sets of credit card numbers using phishing messages in Taiwan and 44 other countries.
Three hundred of the credit card numbers were from Taiwan, police said, adding that the group successfully used 35 of them to purchase goods worth more than NT$2 million (US$63,391).
The Taichung Prosecutors’ Office is investigating whether the group contravened the Organized Crime Prevention Act (組織犯罪防制條例), Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法) and Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法).
The Taichung District Court ordered that Tu and another accomplice, surnamed Hsu (徐), be detained.
The Executive Yuan yesterday announced that registration for a one-time universal NT$10,000 cash handout to help people in Taiwan survive US tariffs and inflation would start on Nov. 5, with payouts available as early as Nov. 12. Who is eligible for the handout? Registered Taiwanese nationals are eligible, including those born in Taiwan before April 30 next year with a birth certificate. Non-registered nationals with residence permits, foreign permanent residents and foreign spouses of Taiwanese citizens with residence permits also qualify for the handouts. For people who meet the eligibility requirements, but passed away between yesterday and April 30 next year, surviving family members
The German city of Hamburg on Oct. 14 named a bridge “Kaohsiung-Brucke” after the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. The footbridge, formerly known as F566, is to the east of the Speicherstadt, the world’s largest warehouse district, and connects the Dar-es-Salaam-Platz to the Brooktorpromenade near the Port of Hamburg on the Elbe River. Timo Fischer, a Free Democratic Party member of the Hamburg-Mitte District Assembly, in May last year proposed the name change with support from members of the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union. Kaohsiung and Hamburg in 1999 inked a sister city agreement, but despite more than a quarter-century of
Taiwanese officials are courting podcasters and influencers aligned with US President Donald Trump as they grow more worried the US leader could undermine Taiwanese interests in talks with China, people familiar with the matter said. Trump has said Taiwan would likely be on the agenda when he is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) next week in a bid to resolve persistent trade tensions. China has asked the White House to officially declare it “opposes” Taiwanese independence, Bloomberg reported last month, a concession that would mark a major diplomatic win for Beijing. President William Lai (賴清德) and his top officials
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday expressed “grave concerns” after Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) reiterated the city-state’s opposition to “Taiwanese independence” during a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強). In Singapore on Saturday, Wong and Li discussed cross-strait developments, the Singaporean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “Prime Minister Wong reiterated that Singapore has a clear and consistent ‘one China’ policy and is opposed to Taiwan independence,” it said. MOFA responded that it is an objective fact and a common understanding shared by many that the Republic of China (ROC) is an independent, sovereign nation, with world-leading
RSS