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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》Landline anti-fraud alerts proven to be effective: NCC
National Communications Commission Vice Chairman Wong Po-tsung attends a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Ting Yi, Taipei Times
By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
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Anti-fraud voice alerts on landlines have proven to be effective in curbing telephone scams, with the number of calls from suspicious phone numbers dropping from 330,000 to 120,000 per day, the National Communications Commission said yesterday.
The service, which was launched on Monday by Chunghwa Telecom, is part of the government’s efforts to deter scam calls. When receiving calls beginning with （+886 9）, landline service subscribers first hear a seven-second alert in Mandarin and Hoklo — commonly known as Taiwanese — informing them that it is an international phone call and could be a scam.
NCC Vice Chairman Wong Po-tsung （翁柏宗） said that Taiwan is the first country to offer voice alerts about scam calls to landline service subscribers.
Internet scams, investment scams and those in which people are asked to make payments by installment are three common types of scams in Taiwan, he said.
Scammers asking people to make payments by installment often do so over the phone, and mostly prey on elderly people who stay at home during the day and mainly communicate using landlines, Wong said.
Some telecoms would begin offering the same service to mobile telecommunication service subscribers in October, he said.
Last month, an average of 330,000 phone calls beginning with （+886 9） were recorded per day, Wong said, citing data provided by Chunghwa Telecom.
On Monday, the number dropped to 185,000, and those answering hung up on 8,700 of the calls before they had finished listening to the alert, he said.
There were about 19,000 calls where those answering the calls continued the communication after listening to the alert, he said.
On Tuesday, the number of （+886 9） phone calls decreased to 120,000. Of the connected calls, 3,400 were disconnected soon after the alerts were heard. There were only about 8,500 calls where those answering continued the communication after listening to the alert, Wong said.
Taiwan is the first country to offer voice alerts about scam calls to landline service subscribers, Wong said.
“To deter scam callers, people should avoid answering these calls or at least must be on alert,” Wong said. “We will continue to monitor whether phone scammers use other means to commit fraud.”
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
