The Executive Yuan’s Anti-Fraud Command Center yesterday cautioned the public ahead of the Baishatun Matsu pilgrimage against scams disguised as trade in Matsu-blessed items, cheap produce or rice cookers.
This year’s pilgrimage, widely recognized as Taiwan’s longest religious procession on foot, is to begin on Sunday.
The center said people should be cautious when online sellers say that identity or payment verification has failed and ask the customer to add their Line or contact online customer services.
Photo courtesy of the Executive Yuan
Such scams often occur when sellers use shipping services provided by 7-Eleven or FamilyMart, it said, adding that people should immediately call the 165 anti-fraud hotline in such situations.
The scam method has recently been rampant on Facebook and Threads, the center said, adding that online shopping scams on both platforms amounted to 4,490 cases last month, making up 87.66 percent of online shopping scams.
Scams involving farm products comprised most of the cases, it said.
The second-most common scam type involved “free Matsu-blessed items with only shipping fee charged,” followed by new electric rice cookers at low prices, it said.
Scams disguised as concert tickets, fan merchandise or second-hand goods sales were also common, it added.
Scammers selling goods on social media would ask buyers to communicate via Facebook Messenger or Line and provide a link of 7-Eleven or FamilyMart shipping services, the center said.
When buyers follow the procedures to make the transaction, a page would pop up showing that “real-name authentication was not completed” or “payment verification failed” — which are typical scam language — and demand buyers contact online customer services, it said.
Scammers would use various excuses to demand online transfers, cash withdrawals without passbooks, or QR code withdrawals, or pretend to be bank personnel calling the buyers and asking them to send their ATM cards or passbooks, the center said, as it urge people to remain vigilant to prevent large financial losses.
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