Premier Chen Chien-jen on Thursday received briefings from the National Communications Commission, Financial Supervisory Commission, Ministry of Justice and Ministry of the Interior regarding version 1.5 of the government's next-generation anti-fraud strategy guidelines. The premier said these guidelines, upgraded from the initial version 1.0, will proactively tackle the issue by identifying, preventing, intercepting and punishing fraud. The premier directed relevant ministries and agencies to advance the scheduled implementation of newly updated strategies and measures as swiftly as possible.
In regards to identifying fraud, the premier said full efforts will be devoted to education campaigns to promote fraud awareness and raise public vigilance. To prevent fraud, the government is cooperating with the private sector to block scams, such as by stopping caller ID spoofing by foreign scammers or by warning users when they receive calls from international phone numbers. To intercept fraud, the government will employ rigorous measures and strategies to strengthen the security of money flows, and work with the financial industry and the judiciary to protect people's assets. To punish fraud, the upgraded guidelines focus on severely penalizing perpetrators of fraud to better protect victims.
Premier Chen stressed that the government has demonstrated its resolve to tackle fraud by recently approving draft amendments to the Criminal Code and four other legal statutes relating to fraud: the Human Trafficking Prevention Act, Personal Data Protection Act, Money Laundering Control Act, and the Securities Investment Trust and Consulting Act. The amendments would introduce heavier penalties for deepfake fraud, nonconsensual custody of individuals and human trafficking, as well as increased fines for related fraud crimes and requiring online advertisers to register with their real names. The premier also asked government agencies to coordinate with the private sector to develop various fraud prevention methods with the goal of reducing exposure, reducing deception and reducing harm caused by scams.