CNA and Focus Taiwan reported that Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) put losses from election-themed scams above NT$20.15 million over the past two months, as campaign offers exploited public interest in candidates.
CNA, United Daily News and Youth Daily News reported that the bureau’s October tally included 87 fake campaign-merchandise giveaway cases and NT$19.11 million in losses. The reports describe financial theft tied to election themes, not claims of altered vote counts or election results.
In one case, a teacher in Kaohsiung responded to an online campaign-merchandise offer with a NT$40 delivery charge. CNA and United Daily News reported that after the seller claimed its account was frozen, a person claiming to work for a bank persuaded her to make 32 online transfers to several accounts. She lost NT$1.39 million over about six hours.
In an Oct. 18 alert, the CIB said fraudsters were adapting familiar methods to election-season interest, including fake sales posts and bogus delivery websites. The bureau urged people to end interactions that require online banking for verification and to check suspicious requests through Taiwan’s anti-fraud hotline at 165.
Taiwan’s local public officials election is scheduled for Nov. 28, according to the Central Election Commission (CEC).
