Seven fraud cases linked to the distribution of NT$10,000 (US$322) cash handouts have been discovered over the past few weeks, the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) said on Wednesday.
As of Monday, 56 advertisements and 50 social media accounts related to cash handout fraud had been removed or suspended, it said.
One case involved a phishing e-mail that led people to a fake version of the government’s cash handout Web site, which resulted in more than NT$50,000 unauthorized credit card transactions, the ministry said.
Photo: CNA
Four cases involved scammers posing as prosecutors and the police, involving losses of NT$510,000, NT$840,000, NT$3.2 million and NT$3.67 million, it said.
In two other cases, scammers attempted to seize victims’ bank accounts, but that did not lead to financial losses, it added.
The Ministry of Finance said people who completed registration or are qualified for direct deposit began receiving their cash handouts on Wednesday.
The Legislative Yuan’s Internal Administration Committee yesterday held a hearing with the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Digital Affairs, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, and the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) to report on interagency efforts to combat fraud related to the handout program.
The interior ministry said that on Sept. 11, the National Police Agency instructed precincts to form task forces to monitor and report fraudulent advertisements, text messages, social media accounts and Web sites linked to the handouts.
Police have been working to block sources of fraudulent information and have been investigating such cases, it added.
Between Sept. 12 and Monday, police have removed 56 scam advertisements, suspended 50 accounts and disabled three fake finance ministry Web sites, the interior ministry said.
The digital affairs ministry said it coordinated with other ministries and Taiwan Network Information Center (TWNIC) to create a rapid blocking system for fraudulent Web sites.
The FSC monitors suspicious Web sites daily and reports them to the National Treasury Administration for verification, it said, adding that if a Web site is confirmed to be fake, the treasury administration instructs the TWNIC to suspend the domain to prevent the public from accessing the Web site.
To prevent scammers from using domains similar to the official cash handout Web site, the center scans URLs daily to detect high-risk domains with names similar to “10000.gov.tw” and 109 domains that could potentially be used for fraud have been pre-emptively registered for one year, the digital affairs ministry said.
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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