People accessing financial services through cellphone apps — whether buying or selling goods, investing, or transferring money — should exercise caution amid incidents of fraud, Minister of Digital Affairs Huang Yen-nun (黃彥男) said.
When downloading apps, people should do so only from official platforms, such as Google Play or Apple’s App Store, and be careful about granting permissions for the programs to access personal information, Huang said.
The minister issued the warning on Sunday when he recounted incidents of friends and family who have recently had their Line or Facebook accounts hacked.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Digital Affairs
One person receiving messages from a hacked account did not know it was a scam, he said.
“As the conversation continued, the other party said they needed money. After transferring the funds, the person discovered that they had been deceived,” Huang said. “The account they were chatting with had been taken over by someone else a long time ago.”
He said that if people receive a Line message from someone asking to borrow money, they should call that person directly to verify it is who the account is claiming to be.
Under the Fraud Crime Hazard Prevention Act (詐欺犯罪危害防制條例), put into effect last year, Line, Google and online advertising platform operators are implementing real-name systems for advertisers, Huang said.
Facebook has also promised to introduce a real-name advertising system by the end of this month, which should reduce fraudulent ads, he said, adding that operators who refuse to implement the system would be fined.
Meanwhile, a new version of the Internet Fraud Reporting and Inquiry Network was created at the end of last year and is undergoing internal testing, he said.
The network would be launched after testing by the Executive Yuan and public is finished, he said.
More than 10,000 fraudulent Web sites were removed during a previous test, Huang said.
However, it was discovered that fraud groups could launch attacks on the query network, and some people had uploaded pornographic Web pages to the platform, he said.
“We hope to make corrective measures and launch the network later this quarter,” he said, adding that the Executive Yuan would confirm the official launch date.
He also discussed the effects of budgetary restrictions on the ministry.
It would seek to maintain the nation’s cybersecurity resilience as well as keep up efforts to crack down on Internet fraud, despite the legislature cutting 40 percent of the budget for the Administration for Digital Industries and Administration for Cybersecurity.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “[we] appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
TRUMP ERA: The change has sparked speculation on whether it was related to the new US president’s plan to dismiss more than 1,000 Joe Biden-era appointees The US government has declined to comment on a post that indicated the departure of Laura Rosenberger as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Neither the US Department of State nor the AIT has responded to the Central News Agency’s questions on the matter, after Rosenberger was listed as a former chair on the AIT’s official Web site, with her tenure marked as 2023 to this year. US officials have said previously that they usually do not comment on personnel changes within the government. Rosenberger was appointed head of the AIT in 2023, during the administration of former US president Joe