Some time ago, the Executive Yuan ratified the “Fraud Action Program 1.5” and established the “Fraud Prevention Office”. Concurrently, I received requests from my column readers, hoping I would share the concrete actions of the digital department in combating fraud.

In reality, fraud doesn’t just affect governance and economy, but its more severe consequence lies in the erosion of societal trust.

Should government units be impersonated by wrongdoers, crucial messages would fail to reach the public effectively; if e-commerce platforms are counterfeited, consumers would find it hard to trust, thereby reducing their willingness to purchase.

To combat fraud, the first step is to block the source of fraud and prevent personal information from being stolen. Consequently, the digital department is fully committed to promoting “Short Code SMS” and privacy-enhancing technologies, to assist industries in enhancing information security and reducing personal data leaks.

With numerous text messages received on mobile phones daily, how does one discern the genuine messages? The Ministry of Digital Affairs has designed a government-specific SMS short code for this very purpose. This set of numbers can only be used by government agencies for text messages. We anticipate its launch in the fourth quarter of this year, enabling everyone to distinguish it clearly and prevent counterfeit attempts by criminals.

Just like the anti-fraud hotline “165” and other government-exclusive numbers, they are easy to remember and can’t be altered. Upon determining this set of short codes, the digital department will liaise with telecom operators for preemptive technical checks.

Moreover, we are encouraging e-commerce partners to implement privacy-enhancing technologies, replacing the recipient’s contact number on the order with representative numbers and codes. Logistics personnel can contact the recipient by simply dialing the code, and the public can also contact logistics using this code. It’s not only convenient and memorable but can also prevent personal information leaks.

The second step in combating fraud is to prevent fraud at its end, even if personal information is unfortunately leaked, and to inhibit the flow of money. This is the “platform joint defense” implemented by the Digital Department.

The e-commerce anti-fraud collaborative platform was jointly established by the Ministry of Digital Affairs, industry associations, and Taiwan Network Information Center (TWNIC). Once an e-commerce partner identifies a fraudulent website and reports it to 165, the Taiwan Network Center can quickly halt the analysis of fraudulent domain names, minimizing the risk of domestic users being deceived, using the Public Association as a liaison.

The game point fraud collaborative platform was co-established by the Digital Department, the Procuratorate, the Executive Yuan’s Money Laundering Prevention Office, and the game point industry. It offers services like “game entry delay of forty-eight hours”, and “point anti-fraud lock card platform”. When the public discovers they have been deceived, they can lock it on the platform and return to the original store for a refund, thereby reducing losses.

From March this year until now, the card lock platform has successfully locked hundreds of transactions, and the number of reported incidents has been reduced from 1,500 per month to fewer than 100.

The public-private collaboration mechanism promoted by the Digital Department is also applied to virtual accounts. Should a bank discover an illegal virtual account, it can report to the Financial Supervisory Commission through the collaborative platform, and then the digital department will perform inspections according to law. For illegal cash flows, we cooperate with the Financial Supervisory Commission to establish a third-party payment inquiry system, helping relevant units obtain the necessary account information in the shortest possible time.

The goal of the digital department in combating fraud is to build a resilient protective net, not just fixing leaks at the end but also blocking them from the source. We will continue sharing specific methods and execution results, and we welcome readers to offer their opinions to improve our policy.