Work would begin next year to establish a fund to compensate people affected by fraud, the Executive Yuan’s Anti-fraud Command Center said yesterday after Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers urged the government to prioritize scam prevention and recovery of stolen assets.
The government’s scam prevention results have failed to justify its spending — NT$7 billion (US$224.25 million) this year and NT$8.3 billion budgeted for next year — on the efforts, KMT Legislator Chang Chih-lun (張智倫) told a hearing at the legislature in Taipei.
The Executive Yuan should present a report that clearly outlines key performance indicators on funding efficacy, incident and asset loss reduction, and whether asset recovery has increased, Chang said.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
KMT Legislator Wu Tsung-hsien (吳宗憲) said the government should force Meta to adjust its algorithm and demand that the company provide clear measures on how it intends to reduce scamming ads on its social media platforms.
People who have been affected by fraud are most concerned about whether their assets will be returned, Wu said, adding that the Ministry of Justice should make asset recovery the primary focus of its fraud prevention work.
Policy implementation is not the only tool to prevent scamming, and regulations, KMT Legislator Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said, adding that technology and financial oversight can be improved to help stem losses to scammers.
Scam prevention is not what the public focuses on, rather, it is the return of assets, Lin said.
To regain the public’s trust, the government must ensure that scamming is no longer a crime with high yields for low risk, he added.
KMT Legislator Ko Ju-chun (葛如鈞) called on the government to establish transparent and appealable systems so that the public would not be disadvantaged by measures to prevent fraud, citing a person who reported having a bank account suspended for about two years.
Neither the bank nor the government offered compensation when the suspension was lifted, Ko said.
Anti-scam Alliance president Chen An-di (陳安迪) said that people who have lost assets to fraud find the government’s focus on data unhelpful, as all they are concerned about is getting their assets returned.
If a person cannot provide proof that their losses are linked to illicit proceeds of a scam groups, the state confiscates the assets, Chen said, adding that the government should use the items it confiscates to compensate them.
Anti-fraud Command Center Executive Secretary Wang Tsung-sheng (王琮聖) said that the Executive Yuan is mulling the establishment of a scamming compensation fund, which would be a primary focus next year.
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