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.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
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
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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