Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation | Securities Investment Anti-Fraud Zone

TWSE Offers Guide for Financial Fraud Prevention No. 1: Three tricks to analyze the tricks of liars

To prevent financial fraud and safeguard stakeholders, the Taiwan Stock Exchange (the “TWSE”) has cautioned the investors to carefully screen various market information and determine their authenticity, to avoid falling prey to swindlers.

The TWSE points out that pretenders have waged fraud schemes via multiple channels, including phone calls, text messages, communications software, social media, webpage ads, and fraudulent online platforms, endeavoring to contact target persons with fake or even real names, in order to steal money or private information.

Studies show that fraudsters prefer to contact targets in the fake capacities of celebrities, employees of financial (securities) institutions, public functionaries, online sellers, charity workers, employees of major assets management companies, hotel employees, or Taipower customer support agents, as well as social-media influencers or Youtubers, in order to win people's trust, tempt them with benefits, or exert pressure on them, thereby ripping them off.

To win people's trust, for instance, scammer groups would try to set up relationships, such as friendship (including lovers) via social media, induce people to access fake websites, and invite them to join LINE groups via their friends' stolen LINE accounts.

Swindlers may also induce people to join investment-oriented Line groups tempting them to invest in domestic and overseas highflyer stocks, private corporate shares, high-yield financial products, or cryptocurrencies, with such appeals as high profits and low risks, insider information, or guaranteed profits, thereby cheating them of their money.

Exploiters may also resort to blackmail and other means (harm to families, exposure of judicial cases, stealth or suspension of accounts), making people panic and thereby ripping them off.

For all the rhetoric and multiple methods, winning people's trust, temptation of benefits, and exertion of pressure are at the core of the swindlers' schemes. It is of utmost importance for investors to deal with swindling schemes in a cool and calm manner.

TWSE Offers Guide for Financial Fraud Prevention No. 2: Five things to never do

When scammers contact investors using various names through such channels as communications, social media, or web advertisements, after contact is established, the scammers will start to disorient investors with flattering words, asking investors to wire money or invest according to their intentions and thereby defraud investors of their money. The TWSE has analyzed and identified five common methods of fraud.

Investment fraud has run rampant in recently years, and new fraud practices have emerged. The TWSE reminds investors that if someone approaches you with the intent of building trust, enticing you with interest, or applying pressure, and if that party asks you to take the following actions, you must remain vigilant and perform multiple verifications.

Go to a counter at the bank to transfer money, or perform ATM operations, according to instructions.
Provide information on bank accounts or other personal information.
Invest in recommended financial products.
Sign an investment contract for entrusted investment.
Buy or sell certain financial products through designated trading platforms.

Once you take one or more of the above actions according to the instructions of the scammer, you may become a victim and the following results may occur:

Cash is unable to be retrieved
The scammer will obtain the investor's financial account number, password, or personal information, and use them to steal assets.
The scammer will provide falsified profit results. When the investor decides to take back the money, the scammer will start to delay payment or require payment of handling fees and other such methods, even though in the end the cash will never be recovered.
Investors get huge profits on the books at the initial stage of investment, but when they decide to invest more money, the scammer just takes the money and runs.

Even after the investor is unwittingly deceived, a new scam appears that claims to help recover the lost funds, but more fees are requested from the investor, making the investor suffer a second time.

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Instead of stomping your feet in anger at being deceived, it is better to plan ahead and take precautions in advance. In a subsequent report series on financial fraud prevention, we will introduce various response methods to avoid fraud, and tell you all how to stop, look, and listen, pay attention to risks, and cautiously judge the authenticity of investment information by calling institutions, so as to safeguard both the investor’s rights and property.

TWSE Offers Guide for Financial Fraud Prevention No. 3: Just Say No

No matter what methods used, the scam syndicates must have the victims transfer money or provide personal information in order to complete the fraud. Therefore, the best way to prevent financial fraud is to say "no" firmly.

Just say “No” when you receive uncertain messages. The Taiwan Stock Exchange has compiled a list of fraud cases and recommended eight “no” to financial frauds.

Don't answer unfamiliar calls without caller ID

-The caller's number may be a fake number, and you cannot identify the caller without caller ID.

Don't click on unknown messages or links

-Unknown links may contain viruses and Trojan horses, which may further endanger the mobile devices, cause personal information leakage, or be used as a device for mining or cyber-attacks.

Don't believe in uncertain investment advices

-only accept advice from verifiable legal entities.

Don't establish relationships based on money

-Relationships based on money alone will not continue when the cash flow stops.

Don't be afraid of threats

-Seek the assistance from the police and judicial authority.

Don't follow the instructions to operate the ATM or wire money

-ATMs can only be used to transfer money, not for identification or other purposes.

Do not provide personal information

-Protect your personal information, which is often used by fraudsters as a tool for their next scam.

Don't invest in unfamiliar products

-“Be in the know,” understand your investment targets, do your own research before making investment decisions and safeguard yourself.

In order to avoid fraud, investors must obtain information about their investment targets through the proper channels before investing, for example, through the TWSE official website or the Market Observation Post System, to inquire about the financial and business information of the companies, and place orders with legitimate brokers. Please remember the significant eight points of "No" to prevent financial fraud.

TWSE Offers Guide for Financial Fraud Prevention No. 4: click before you think thrice

With the development of mobile devices and instant messaging software, fraud cases have increased. In particular, the use of SMS and IM to send links to victims to steal their personal information, install Trojan horses or establish connections for further fraud is the most common pattern. The TWSE urges to “think thrice before you click,” to eliminate all possible financial fraud.

In addition to installing anti-virus software on your mobile devices or computer to scan for unknown links, you can also install a filter app on your mobile phone, or use the blacklist function of apps such as Android "Messages" and iOS "iMessage" to block unknown incoming calls and SMS to avoid fraudulent links. Moreover, if there are links from SMS and IM, please remember the three steps of "stop," "see" and "check" before clicking on them.

Stop - When you receive a link, do not click it directly. Before clicking it, safeguard and remind yourself that it may be a fraudulent message.

See - Identify the credibility of the link source. If it is an IM, see who is sending the link. If it is a link from SMS, see the result of the scan by the filter app.

Check - Check if the source of the link is real. If the link is from someone you know, you can ask them by phone to confirm. If you don't know them, or if the link is from a well-known entity, financial institution, or government agency, but the software cannot identify the credibility of the link or you have doubts, you can ask the Anti-Fraud Hotline,”165”, or you can choose to simply ignore the message and delete it.

To develop the efficiency of handling securities and futures-related illegal cases, the FSC has established a real-time connection with the Criminal Investigation Bureau “CIB”, and set up the " Preventing Illegal Securities and Futures Practitioners " to list of legal securities firms, future dealers, securities investment trust and consulting enterprises, and red flags for illegal unlicensed business operations. The “International Investor Alert " and "Illegal Industry Alert" websites have also been set up by the Taiwan Securities Association and the Securities Investment Trust & Consulting Association of the R.O.C.. In addition, the Securities and Futures Anti-Fraud Hotline, 02-2737-3434, provides anti-fraud legal consultant service. You can go to the website or call for related information to ensure the safety of investment.

Fraud Prevention Information