A doctor’s initiative to implement a mechanism for wire transfer recipients to consent to receiving money has garnered 2,200 signatures since its launch on May 10, the government-run public policy participation platform showed yesterday.
The proposal to verify payee consent for inbound transfers (PCIT) has to gather 5,000 signatures before July 11 for the government to comment on potentially adopting such a measure.
The initiative’s sponsor of record, a Taichung medical doctor surnamed Lin (林), said she launched the signature drive after falling prey to retaliation from suspected scammers she had contacted during a social media auction for hotel reservations.
Photo: Hung Jui-chin, Taipei Times
Lin said she blocked the vendors and reported them for suspected fraud, but they wired a small sum to her account in an apparent act of retaliation, resulting in the authorities flagging her as a possible suspect.
Holders of flagged accounts are barred from accessing their assets for between six months and two years, preventing them from receiving salaries, paying rent or mortgages and tanking their credit scores, she said.
Financial regulators have flagged the bank accounts of about 150,000 Taiwanese in connection with fraudulent financial transactions, regardless of actual complicity, she said.
By making use of two-step verification whenever an account holder receives a first-ever transfer from another party, PCIT curbs scams and protects people from becoming snared in illegal schemes, Lin said.
This proposed system has not been fully implemented in the banking systems of any country, she said, adding that inconvenience could be reduced by pre-emptively whitelisting the account holder’s relatives and associates.
Posts about the initiative have been reposted about 600,000 times on social media.
Taichung Legal Affairs Bureau Director Li Shanzhi (李善植) said yesterday in response to a question that scammers could wire money to innocent third parties in an attempt to launder money or retaliate against victims who reported their crimes.
Innocent people have been known to lose their livelihoods from a flagged account since police investigations often take years to clear them of suspicion, he said.
The central government is urged to consider the proposal regardless of whether it passes the threshold for a petition, Li said.
“It is imperative for members of the public to engage in transactions only on government-approved platforms and with trustworthy vendors,” he said.
The Criminal Investigation Bureau said yesterday that implementation would require coordination with the core systems and information infrastructure of financial institutions, which falls under the responsibility of the financial sector.
The bureau said it would relay the matter to the Financial Supervisory Commission for further review.
Additional reporting by Chiu Chun-fu
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