Did the campaign gadgets get scammed out of 15 million in October? Did they come from "Ocean Current"? The Anti-Fraud Center responded

The "ocean current" continues to heat up, and supporters of Democratic Progressive Party's Taipei mayoral candidate Shen Boyang's campaign items are rushing to buy souvenirs. Even a streamer is hard to come by, and fraud syndicates have taken advantage of the situation. (File photo)

As the nine-in-one election enters the countdown period, the "ocean current" continues to heat up. The Democratic Progressive Party's Taipei mayoral candidate Shen Boyang's campaign support items have caused supporters to snap up souvenirs. Even a streamer is hard to come by, and fraud syndicates have taken advantage of the situation. According to statistics, between October 1 and November 1, the amount of fraud reported nationwide reached more than 15 million yuan. I was asked how many of them were related to the "Ocean Current" support gadgets? The Executive Yuan Anti-Fraud Center stated that it has entered into an investigation and the investigation will not be made public.

Since October, the Anti-Fraud Center of the Executive Yuan and the Fraud Prevention Center of the Criminal Bureau have strengthened the search and reporting of fraudulent posts about candidate support items. As of November 2, 5,071 fraudulent accounts and posts have been blocked and removed. Recently, nearly 500 fraudulent accounts have been blocked and removed every day. Among them, the candidates impersonated by the fraud group are located in Taipei, Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Taichung, and Kaohsiung. From October 1 to November 1 alone, the police agency accepted 70 related fraud reports, with the amount of damage amounting to more than 15 million yuan.

The anti-fraud center pointed out that there are more than 30 kinds of fake candidate support items found so far: shou, hard hats, pendants, tomato bags, badges, hairpins, scarves, parasols, windmills, canvas bags, wristbands, ice sleeves, etc. However, the fraud method is exactly the same as traditional idol group concert support scams. They all claim to provide free fan support items, please "+ LINE" or "private message" to request, and then falsely claim to pay shipping costs to lure people to the "Fake Selling Goods" or "Fake Family Goods Selling" webpages, and finally use "real-name authentication failed" and "cash flow authentication failed" as pretexts to defraud people of their money.

The Anti-Fraud Center stated that it would like to remind the public once again that if they need candidate support items, please go to the campaign headquarters and other physical locations to collect them, or contact the candidate's official website or account, and do not post online through unknown sources. Whenever "+ LINE" or "private message" appears in a candidate's support item post, you should open your eyes and further check the personal information of the person who posted it. If the location is overseas or is not shown, or the account has been established for less than 3 months, it is almost certain that the other party is a fraudulent account. Please report it to the social platform immediately, and do not add LINE private chat with the other party.

☆The Liberty Times e-newsletter reminds you that the anti-fraud hotline: 165 and the crime reporting hotline: 110☆