Do Not Allow Taiwan to Become the "Land of the Scam"

Do Not Allow Taiwan to Become the "Land of the Scam"
China Times editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
June 15, 2011

Can it be that people on Taiwan truly have active imaginations, and are full of invention? Taiwan's soft power has enabled it to shine on the international stage. Native Taiwanese phone fraud has gone global. Practitioners have spread their wings and are now notorious throughout the world. But this is hardly something to be proud of, The government agencies in charge must arrest the perpetrators. The legislature should consider amending the law, increasing penalties for offenders. Above all, we must not allow Taiwan to acquire a reputation as "the land of the scam artist."

The past two days have presented us with scenarios straight out of "Con Air." Large numbers of suspects have been boarded onto planes and escorted back to Taiwan. The "0310" cross-Strait, transnational anti-fraud sweep has yielded results. Both sides of the Taiwan Strait, along with Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand have engaged in seldom encountered cross-border police cooperation. As many as 598 suspects have been hauled into court. Among them, 410 were from Taiwan, 181 were from the Chinese mainland, three were from Thailand, two were from Korea, and one each were from Vietnam and Cambodia.

The 122 Taiwanese suspects hauled into court in Cambodia, and the 101 Taiwanese suspects hauled into court in Indonesia, have already been returned to Taiwan. Police uncovered at least 20 different criminal organizations engaged in phone fraud, via three different Internet Service Providers. Actually, this is probably not the whole picture. The racket is simply too lucrative. Many "soldiers" among organized crime have laid down their swords and picked up their telephones, and are raking in a fortune by means of phone fraud.

Phone fraud originated in Taiwan. Con artists came up with all sorts of dirty tricks. They phone family members, telling them a loved one has been kidnapped, or been hurt in a car accident. They say the loved one's bank book or drivers license has been stolen and misused. They pretend to be the police or prosecutors. Their methods continue to evolve, One really has to admire their ingenuity. Many people are not victims of greed. They are merely trying to protect family members or their own property. But they often wind up losing their hard-earned life savings. They often find it difficult to go on living.

Rampant phone fraud has exacted a heavy price on the Taiwan public. But it has also made theem vigilant. Even government agencies have received such phone calls, informing those who answer, that they have won prizes. The officials, realizing the calls are scams, hang up. Scam artists are finding it more and more difficult to con the public on Taiwan. The police are cracking down, As a result, scam artists have transferred their operations overseas. They have exported Taiwan's rich and varied confidence games to foreign countries.

in recent years, according to the National Police Agency, scam artists from Taiwan have "fled to Southeast Asia in order to scam both sides of the Taiwan Strait." They have "formed local alliances, and vanished into nothingness." They have"shifted their battleground throughout the South Seas." Since then, similar phone scams have appeared in other countries, including Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, and even Latin America. But the most seriously affected are people on the Chinese mainland, who are not yet alert to their tricks.

Hundreds of suspects have been ceremoniously returned to Taiwan. Transnational anti-fraud efforts have been fruitful. But what next?

The penalties for con games are much too lenient. Prime suspects in con games are often been sentenced to only one or two years. Accomplices are often sentenced to less than six months. They can easily afford the fines. Many groups recruit young people as part time labor. This leads to absurd situations in which youths appear to be the masterminds behind the scams, as well as the prosecutors. If criminal behavior is discovered overseas, the lightest punishment should be no less than three years.

Earlier this year, the Philippines sent 14 suspects from Taiwan to the Chinese mainland. This provoked serious protests on Taiwan. But as the Philippines noted, it previously arrested a group of suspects from Taiwan. Upon their return to Taiwan, the authorities could do nothing. They got off, scot free. As a result, the Philippines feels that suspects repatriated to Taiwan cannot be effectively prosecuted.

This is something we must improve. Scam artists now range far and wide. The number of victims is huge. The sums of money involved are enormous. They have already inflicted serious harm upon the social order. They have undermined Taiwan's international image. We cling to outdated laws. We punish perpetrators with mere detention or fines amounting to a few tens of thousands of NT dollars. We let con artists off with a hand slap. Even high-profile suspects skate by, unpunished. This is a betrayal of hard working prosecutors and police. This is a betrayal of the con artists' many victims. This cannot deter such scams in the future.

Prosecutors have now decided to treat each violation as a separate offense. This increases the sentence for criminal suspects. But from a rule of law perspective, the laws should be strengthened at their source. This should be the basis for punishment. The penalties for phone fraud, like the penalties for the adulteration of food with plasticizers, are too light. No consideration has been given to the serious long term effects upon society. Individual crimes may not be that serious. But taken together, they inflict serious harm upon the social order. Perpetrators may be emboldened because the penalties are so light. Under the circumstances, the laws must be swiftly amended to ensure severe punishment, Only this can meet society's expectations.

別讓台灣成為詐騙王國
2011-06-15 中國時報

台灣人可能真的腦筋靈活創意多，不只文創軟實力在國際發光，連電話詐欺也可以行騙全球，徒子徒孫還把騙術在世界各地發揚光大。不過這可實在不是光彩的事，政府相關部門除了加強追查緝捕之外，也應考慮通盤修法加重罰則，千萬不要讓台灣被貼上「詐騙王國」的標籤。

這兩天的情景有如電影《空中監獄》的真實版，大批嫌犯在警察戒備森嚴的押解下，搭乘專機送回台灣。「○三一○」兩岸國際跨境掃蕩詐騙大有斬獲，兩岸及柬埔寨、印尼、馬來西亞、泰國警方進行罕見的跨國合作，到案嫌疑人多達五百九十八人。其中台籍嫌犯達四百一十人，中國大陸嫌犯一百八十一人，泰國籍嫌犯三人、韓國籍嫌犯二人，越南與柬埔寨籍各一人。

在柬埔寨到案的一百廿二名和在印尼到案的一百零一名台籍嫌犯，已經先後返台。警方也發現，透過查獲的三個網路電信平台行騙的詐騙集團，最少超過了廿個。其實這恐怕還不是全貌，因為這門生意太好賺，許多黑道兄弟索性放下屠刀改拿話筒，大賺電話詐欺生意。

電話詐騙最早源自台灣，詐騙集團想盡各種鬼點子，從謊稱家人被綁架、出車禍，聲稱帳戶、駕照被盜用，到假冒警察、檢察官等等，手法不斷推陳出新，還真讓人不得不佩服歹徒的創意巧思。許多受騙者並不是出於貪念，而是想保護自己的家人或財產，結果畢生血汗錢化為烏有，簡直痛不欲生。

但隨著詐騙電話猖獗，付出慘重代價的台灣民眾也愈來愈有警覺性，甚至連政府機構通知中獎的電話也被當是詐騙而掛掉。因為台灣人愈來愈難騙，警方抓得又嚴，詐騙集團便轉往外地發展，也把台灣變化多端的詐騙技術輸出到國外。

因為如此，據警政署表示，兩岸詐騙集團近年來「竄逃東南、回騙兩岸」、「就地結盟、化整為零」、「四處轉戰、遊走南洋」等方式經營。於是乎，其他國家也開始出現類似的電話詐欺案件，日本、韓國、東南亞甚至拉丁美洲都傳出有人被騙，現在受害最嚴重的，是民眾還缺乏警覺心的中國大陸。

數百名嫌犯浩浩蕩蕩押解回台，跨國打擊詐騙犯罪收到了豐碩成果，但接下來呢？

台灣法令對詐騙犯的處罰，實在太輕了。過去詐騙集團的主嫌往往只判個一、兩年，共犯也不過是六個月以下的有期徒刑，可以易科罰金。許多集團還索性找未成年人來「打工」，以至於出現少年充當車手甚至檢察官的荒謬情節。而如果犯罪行為是在海外發現，最輕本刑三年以下的甚至不予追訴。

今年初菲律賓將十四名台籍詐騙嫌犯遣送中國大陸時，曾經引發台灣嚴重抗議，但菲國當然也提到，之前曾逮捕一批台籍詐欺嫌犯，這些人回到台灣之後，台灣方面卻無法對他們作刑事起訴，事情不了了之，菲方因此覺得把嫌犯遣返台灣不能有效收到打擊犯罪之效。

這的確是我們應該警惕改進之處，現在的詐騙集團行騙範圍如此之廣、受害人數之多、受騙金額之巨，已經對社會秩序造成了嚴重衝擊，更傷害了台灣的國際形象。如果我們還抱著過時的法令，只處以拘役或區區數萬罰金，就輕輕放過詐騙嫌犯，甚至大張旗鼓把嫌犯帶回又船過水無痕地放走，那就太對不起辛苦追緝的檢警人員、對不起廣大受害民眾，也無法真正遏止詐欺罪行。

雖然檢察官現在決定採一罪一罰原則，加重對嫌犯的求刑，但站在法治的立場，還是應該從源頭強化相關法規，以作為懲處之依據。電話詐欺就像食品添加塑化劑一樣，現行法條不只罰則太輕，而且沒有考量到大規模、長時間、嚴重危害社會與民眾時的狀況。許多罪行如果是個案並不算嚴重，但規模大時會對社會秩序造成重大傷害，而且犯罪者會因為罰則輕微而肆無忌憚。在這種狀況下，應該趕緊修法嚴懲以補強疏漏，才能符合民眾的期待。