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.
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