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.
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