Patterns of Internet crimes will continue to change and become more sophisticated with the advance of information and communications technologies, Premier Mao Chi-kuo warned at today's inter-ministerial public security meeting. He therefore instructed agencies to proactively collaborate and coordinate with each other in order to prevent new forms of online crimes from occurring.
The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) reported today on police agencies' measures to curb online crimes. While frauds using the mobile communication app LINE increased dramatically in 2014, thanks to the collaborative efforts of related agencies, in the first two months of this year the number of such cases clearly dropped, and the case clearance rate rose from 48.3 percent to 73.2 percent year-on-year. This demonstrates the effectiveness of various preventive strategies, the premier said. He affirmed the staff's efforts and asked the MOI and other relevant ministries to continue to implement the various progressive measures outlined in the report.
According to the National Police Agency (NPA), several meetings have been held to discuss the prevention of crimes on LINE. Ministry of Economic Affairs officials have been invited to work out response measures with LINE Corp. headquarters in Japan.
As LINE has gradually reinforced its software security mechanisms since March 2014, relevant crimes in Taiwan fell from 1,394 in April 2014 to only 21 in February 2015. This indicates that strengthening software security can effectively prevent illegal intrusion and fraud.
As frauds on LINE have dropped, fraudulent online transactions and ATM money transfers have been on the rise. The premier asked the NPA and relevant agencies to step up their preventive efforts so as to help the public avoid deception.
The NPA also said it has requested news outlets to publish the names of online store platforms with greater numbers of fraud cases weekly and demanded the businesses managing these platforms to make improvements.
As for other types of crimes, Premier Mao noted that criminal cases, violence and thefts decreased in the first two months of this year, and clearance rates surpassed 90 percent. Overall, the public-security situation has remained steady, and the premier again thanked the law enforcement agencies of both central and local governments for their efforts.
Taiwan's professional baseball season began March 21, and the prosecutorial agencies, league and teams have worked together to establish a task force to prevent illicit gambling on games. The premier instructed the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) and NPA to supervise their subsidiary agencies to ensure thorough execution of various preventive mechanisms to protect the sound development of the professional baseball league.
As for the Coast Guard Administration's (CGA) report on the measures taken by coast guard agencies to crack down on smuggling and stowaways, Premier Mao instructed the CGA to continue to patrol at sea and keep these crimes offshore. Via regional collaboration and intelligence gathering, tackling problems at their source and cutting them off from the roots, the CGA must work hand in hand with other agencies to jointly prevent smuggling and stowaways to safeguard coastal and border security.
Over the past three years, seizures of illicit tobacco and cigarettes have remained rather high, and most of these drugs came from the Philippines. The premier said this situation is worthy of attention and instructed the Customs Administration of the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and CGA to list it as a focus of inspection. As for illicit cigarettes circulating in the market, the premier asked the MOF's National Treasury Administration to work with investigation agencies to strengthen inspections and crackdowns.
Recent incidents such as the gun fight that broke out March 30 when the police were clamping down on narcotics, the death of a female college student March 29 from taking drugs after drinking, and the March 27 killing of two grandparents by their grandson who had just taken drugs are all related with narcotics, indicating drug crimes have worsened, noted the premier. He demanded the MOJ and relevant agencies to propose harsher anti-drug measures at a future meeting of the Executive Yuan's committee on drug prevention and control.