Private banks from next month could apply to acquire their own short message service (SMS) codes amid an increase in fraudulent messages sent by people pretending to be from financial institutions, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday.
The commission recently met with Taiwan’s three largest telecoms to discuss the possibility after the Ministry of Digital Affairs in September last year created the SMS code “111” to identify messages distributed by government-run agencies, including state-run banks, in response to fraudulent messages claiming to be from government agencies.
Lawmakers this week asked whether private banks could also apply to have specific SMS codes to help them tackle fraudulent text messages.
Photo: Taipei Times
“The commission’s position is that private banks can decide whether they want to have their own SMS codes. It should not be a mandate. The commission would be a bridge between the private banks and telecoms, and we would not intervene in their negotiations over details such as the price of distributing text messages,” NCC Vice Chairman and spokesman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said.
In a meeting with NCC officials, representatives of the three telecoms and SMS distributors reached a preliminary agreement that SMS codes for private banks would consist of five digits: the number 68 and their three-digit bank codes, Wong said.
For example, the bank code for Taipei Fubon Bank is 012, and the SMS code for text messages sent by the bank could be 68012, he said.
“We still need to listen to input from telecoms, the Financial Supervisory Commission, the Ministry of Digital Affairs and the Bankers Association [of the Republic of China],” Wong said, adding that a trial run could be conducted next month.
SMS codes that private banks used would be their one and only number and could not be modified or distributed via non-relevant third parties, Wong added.
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
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,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
RSS