Meta Platforms on Thursday released a Facebook reel warning about phishing scams disguised as official announcements related to the NT$10,000 cash handout program.
The short video, created in collaboration with Taiwanese fact-checking organization MyGoPen, urged people not to click on suspicious links, share personal data, mail ATM cards or financial documents, or forward unverified messages or social media posts.
The reel showed examples of text messages and e-mails linking to fake government Web sites that ask people to provide personal information to “register” or “collect” the handout before registration before it officially opens on Wednesday next week.
Photo courtesy of Meta Platforms
The government would not use text messages or e-mails to issue announcements about the handout, nor would it request ATM transfers, the company said.
Meta in a statement warned that scammers impersonating police officers might 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, the 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 artificial intelligence-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) in the statement said that many people were scammed during the government’s 2021 stimulus voucher program that distributed vouchers worth NT$5,000.
This time, fraudsters might use “more convincing and sophisticated methods” to exploit people’s eagerness to claim the funds or their fear of losing them to identity thieves, he said.
Official information about the NT$10,000 handout is available on the government’s official Web site, where online registration is to open on Wednesday next week.
People registering must enter their National Health Insurance card number, national ID number or residence permit number, and a bank account number. The funds should be deposited in applicants’ accounts about a week after registration, the government said.
The NT$10,000 handout could 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 other warnings about fraud ahead of the handout’s rollout.
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
China has reserved offshore airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts that are usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Sunday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. The alerts, known as notice to air missions (NOTAMs), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert
RSS