As the "Ocean Current" sweeps across Taiwan, collecting all kinds of exquisite campaign souvenirs from candidates has become the most popular national movement in recent times. However, this simple enthusiasm for support has been targeted by fraud groups. A female teacher in Kaohsiung originally only wanted to pay 40 yuan for shipping to receive free gifts. However, she was defrauded of 1.39 million yuan in 6 hours by the fraud group on the pretext of "account freeze and real-name authentication." The Criminal Police Department warned that as the election is counting down, fraud cases using small items have surged, calling on the public to be more vigilant.
The high popularity and positive influence brought by "Ocean Current" have made it hard to find small items around it. Many people have been looking for opportunities to exchange or give gifts on the Internet. However, fraud groups have taken advantage of the craze and used this craze as a tool to make money. Innocent "Ocean Current" has also become a victim of fraud. The Criminal Bureau analyzed recent case report data and found that the amount of financial losses in election-related fraud cases in the past two months has reached more than NT$20.15 million. Among them, there were as many as 87 "fake campaign gifts" frauds in October alone, with financial losses as high as NT$19.11 million. The cases are increasing intensively.
According to police investigation, the Kaohsiung female teacher saw a post on the social platform Threads that shared free campaign souvenirs. She followed the instructions and clicked on the fake "Family Good Sale Market" transaction link to pay 40 yuan for shipping. Then, the website popped up a message that she needed to complete "real-name authentication." The fake seller even pretended to be real, crying to the victim that "the family's living expenses are all in this account." She lied that her account had been frozen because she had not authenticated, and asked the female teacher to handle it.
Immediately afterwards, the fake bank specialist took over and guided her to operate multiple bank accounts. In just 6 hours, 32 online transfer transactions occurred, and the original shipping fee of 40 yuan instantly turned into a huge loss of 1.39 million yuan.
The Criminal Bureau said that when purchasing small campaign items, other people were deceived by fake customer service with the words "Complete the authentication, the platform will automatically correct and return", and made 26 consecutive online transfers, resulting in a loss of 1.65 million yuan. In order to receive a free election umbrella, an elderly man in his 70s fell into the fake customer service trap just because of the 60 yuan shipping fee. The fraud group induced the elderly to scan the Alipay QR Code provided by the other party, and even let him generate a cardless withdrawal QR code on his own. Code delivered the fraudulent package and operated online banking according to the instructions. In just 2 days, 31 transfers, cardless withdrawals and deductions occurred, resulting in a loss of more than 920,000 yuan.
The Criminal Bureau said that 87 frauds involving campaign items were all based on the "real-name authentication" technique. Fraudulent groups pretend to be supermarket customer service and financial specialists, using reasons such as account freezing and cash flow verification to trick people into operating online banking, withdrawing money without a card, or scanning QR Codes. The Criminal Bureau reminds that normal transactions do not require online banking for authentication. If you encounter suspicious links or financial verification requirements, you should stop immediately and call the 165 hotline or go to the "165 Anti-Fraud Dashboard" for verification.
☆The Liberty Times e-newsletter reminds you that the anti-fraud hotline: 165 and the crime reporting hotline: 110☆
