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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》Taiwanese lose NT$1.23bn to investment swindlers
A teller counts NT$1,000 banknotes at a bank in Taipei on Feb. 23, 2017. Photo: Tyrone Siu, Reuters
/ Staff writer, with CNA
Taiwanese lost NT$1.23 billion （US$40.48 million） to investment scams in the fourth quarter of last year, up 70 percent year-on-year, according to Criminal Investigation Bureau （CIB） statistics.
The figure was also up 40 percent from the previous quarter, the data showed.
Fraud rings took advantage of people’s fear of a slowing economy by providing apparent relief in sham stocks, cryptocurrencies and other investment vehicles, the CIB said in a statement last week.
Fraudsters’ most common strategy has been to use social media groups to promote investments promising large payouts, quick money or guaranteed returns, creating an illusion of low-risk investments that offer high rates of return, the statement said.
Those incentives have proven too tempting for people experiencing an unstable economy, finding later that their investments have disappeared, it said.
The CIB said that people should invest in assets that offer reasonable returns through legal channels, and discuss suspicious offers with personnel on the 165 or 110 hotlines.
Meanwhile, the Taipei Police Department Criminal Investigation Division said that it arrested 3,144 fraud suspects in 326 cases last year.
Taipei recorded the most fraud-related arrests among Taiwan’s six special municipalities, it said.
Joint efforts by police and financial institutions in Taipei intercepted 1,175 fraud operations and prevented nearly NT$750 million in potential losses to scammers last year.
That number represents a sharp jump from 680 in 2021, it said.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
