Hsinchu city and county have the most reported fraud cases and highest amount of defrauded money in the nation, suggesting that people working in high-tech sectors are at high risk of investment and fintech scams, prosecutors said last month.
Hsinchu had 150 reports of fraud per 100,000 people per month, the highest rate in Taiwan, the Hsinchu District Prosecutors’ Office said on Oct. 20.
Between last year and this year, NT$220 million (US$7.15 million) were lost to scams per month, indicating that many of the victims had high incomes, Hsinchu head prosecutor Huang Chen-lun (黃振倫) said.
Photo: Taipei Times
Many people in his jurisdiction are technicians, engineers and managers working at the Hsinchu Science Park or supplier firms, he said.
Most of them have university degrees, high-paying jobs and good self-confidence, and mainly lead simple lives, going to work and then returning home on most days, Huang said.
“They are specifically targeted by scammers, who use persuasive words and deception to lure them in, such as ‘high return,’ ‘high profit,’ ‘achieve financial independence’ and other enticing terms,” he said. “Some people with jobs at high-tech sectors would get hooked, as they are overly confident that they are smart enough and would not be duped.”
“Technicians, engineers and people from the ‘intellectual class,’ are confident about their sense of judgement,” Huang said. “When they encounter things they are not familiar with, such as cryptocurrency, fintech investment and legal processes, they think these are not too difficult to understand.”
People in the high-tech industry are confident, but they still have blind spots in certain fields, he said.
They should ask questions and obtain knowledge from friends and experts, Huang said, adding that “the more you ask, the more protection you get.”
“If you are not sure, you must verify it, and if you do not understand the presented figures, you should ask,” he said.
“High-tech professionals are also afraid of others finding out that they have fallen victim to financial scams and would often opt to handle the situation on their own instead of seeking help from others,” Huang said.
“Scammers would sometimes say their package is only for ‘select, high-class people,’ so victims are duped into believing it is an affirmation of their status,” he added.
Scammers prey on people’s egos and emotions, he said, adding that it has nothing to do with intelligence, as scammers aim to manipulate the person’s feelings.
The only way to “show” your intellectual capacity is to have the courage to ask questions and seek help, Huang said.
Having a university degree, taking many courses and reading textbooks do not provide people with a real understanding of how scammers operate, the black market and underground financial schemes, he said.
Most people only have superficial knowledge about fintech, cryptocurrency and legal fields or only understand these things in theory, so they could be easily manipulated through persuasive talk and deception, Huang added.
He cited as an example a person with a doctorate who got scammed after they got lured into downloading an app for a crypto trade platform, which turned out to be fake.
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