Meta yesterday released a Facebook reel warning users about phishing scams disguised as official announcements related to Taiwan's upcoming NT$10,000 (US$323) cash handout program.
Created in collaboration with Taiwanese fact-checking organization MyGoPen, the short video urged people not to click on suspicious links, share personal data, mail ATM cards or financial documents, or forward unverified messages and social media posts.
The reel showed examples of text messages and emails linking to fake government websites that ask people to provide personal information to "register" or "collect" the handout before registration for it officially begins next Wednesday.
Photo: Taipei Times file photo
The government will not use text messages or emails to issue announcements about the handout, nor will it request ATM transfers, the company said.
Meta also warned yesterday in a press release that scammers impersonating police officers may claim that someone has fraudulently collected a person's handout and ask that person for bank details, ATM cards, or passwords for investigative purposes.
After many months of political wrangling, Taiwan's government decided to distribute NT$10,000 to each citizen as well as foreign nationals who are permanent residents or spouses of Taiwanese citizens.
The policy has been touted as a way to inject vitality into the local economy that has seen strong AI-related export growth but otherwise stagnant economic activity and help consumers who have been hurt by rising prices and lackluster real wage growth.
MyGoPen founder Charles Yang (葉子揚) said in the press statement that many people were scammed during the government's 2021 stimulus voucher program that distributed vouchers worth NT$5,000.
This time, he said, fraudsters may use "more convincing and sophisticated methods" to exploit people's eagerness to claim the funds or their fear of losing them to identity thieves.
Official information about the NT$10,000 handout is available on the government's official website, where online registration will open beginning on Nov. 5.
People registering must enter a national health insurance card number, a national ID number or residence permit number, and a bank account number. The funds should enter applicants' accounts from about a week after registration, the government has said.
The NT$10,000 handout can also be collected without registering online, through ATMs starting on Nov. 17 and post offices starting on Nov. 24.
Aside from the latest Meta warning, the government has issued various warnings against fraud ahead of the handout's rollout.
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
RSS