The prevention of fraud crimes has long been one of the key policies of Taiwan. Following the liberalization and globalization of tele- communication and internet, fraud cases now become more organized, which are often integrated with internet, telecommunication, and communication technology to evolve into new types of electronic fraud crimes. To fight against such crimes, the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of China (Taiwan) recently proceeded with following proactive actions:

I. Sophistication of Crime Investigation and Prevention 

Currently the Ministry of Justice has requested Taiwan High Prosecutors Office to design and establish a cross-border telecommunication fraud crime database in order to investigate and thoroughly disintegrate fraud crime organizations. The ultimate objective is to ensure that no one can profit from crimes and to fight against crimes from the root.

II. Integration of Resources from Different Governmental Agencies and Departments

1. Convene Interdepartmental Platform Meeting for Fight Against Cross-Border Fraud Crimes and Integrate the Strengths of Agencies

Taiwan’s Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) of Executive Yuan, Criminal Investigation Police Office, National Police Agency of Ministry of Interior, Taiwan High Prosecutors Office and other agencies established the “Interdepartmental Coordination Platform for Processing Cross-Strait Telecommunication Fraud Cases in Other Countries” (hereinafter referred to as the Interdepartmental Coordination Platform) in June 2016 to process Cross-Strait and cross-border fraud cases. The specific outcome of its five platform meetings so far is described below:

(1) The “Mission-Based Police Liaison Officer” program is launched to promote frequent cooperation between Taiwan’s law enforcement and its counterparts in other countries and provide Taiwan’s experience in fighting against telecommunication frauds through overseas police cooperation.

(2) MOFA has developed the reporting mechanism of “Pre-warning, arrest and detention, and repatriation report on Taiwan national engaged in cross-country (border) telecommunication frauds overseas” in order to report intelligence in Taiwan and abroad to the competent authorities immediately, while relevant departments and Taipei representative offices are required to comply with the procedures.

(3) The National Communications Commission (NCC) and Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) also took part in and explained about the control actions for prepaid cards issued by telecommunication industries and the unionpay cards frequently used in fraud, in attempt to jointly analyze the approach of solution.

2. Establish “Cross-Border Telecom Fraud and Asset Recovery Platform”

To effectively block cross-border telecommunication fraud acts and recover the assets, Taiwan High Prosecutors Office established the “Cross-Border Telecommunication Fraud and Asset Recovery Platform” in April 2016 with responsibility in the supervision of local prosecutors’ offices and integration of the investigation powers from the prosecutors, police and investigation bureau. The platform coordinates public and private sectors in the assistance of investigation and asset recovery in a bid to thoroughly fight against such type of crimes. 

III. Take Actions in Promoting Amendment and Improvement of Relevant Laws and Regulations

1. Add Aggravated fraud offense to Criminal Code

Taiwan has promulgated the addition of aggravated fraud offense to its Criminal Code, where the three patterns of “fraud offense committed in the name of a government agency or public official without authorization,” “carried out by three or more people” and “carried out by dissemination of false information to the general public through television, electronic communication, the Internet or other media” were added to the aggravating conditions. The legal sentencing of this crime will receive at least one year and up to seven years imprisonment, and the sentencing may be fined up to NTD 1 million and unaccomplished offense will be punished.

2. Take Actions in Promoting Amendments to the Money Laundering Control Act

Amendments to the Money Laundering Control Act have entered into force in June 2017. A “driver clause” was added to Article 15 of Money Laundering Control Act, which is expected to curb the criminal acts of frequent withdrawing of money by the drivers of fraud organizations in practice. As for the confiscation, the clause is expanded so that frequent or organized money laundering crime shall be confiscated in the presence of sufficient facts that support the suspect has obtained disposable property or proceeds on property from other illegal acts. 

3. Amend Organized Crime Prevention Act and Restructure and Re-define the Structure of Organized Crime

The implementation of amendments to Organized Crime Prevention Act in last year opened up a new page of Taiwan’s history in the prevention of organized crime. The definition of crime organizations has been extended to include those organizations committing fraud crime (no longer limited to violent crime only), and such organizations not only will face with the previous aggravated fraud crime but also the regulations governing the severe punishment of participation in crime organizations after the amendment to the Organized Crime Prevention Act.

4. Develop the Act on International Legal Assistance on Criminal Matters and Provide reference for Recovery of Assets

Although Taiwan has signed the agreement on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters with the US, the Philippines and South Africa, most countries have not signed agreements of the kind with Taiwan. In the absence of agreement assistance, the investigation of cross-border telecommunication crimes particularly requires complete national regulations that will facilitate the criminal and judicial assistance with explicit and specific reference for compliance. The Ministry of Justice takes consideration of international covenants and foreign legislations in the formulation of “Act on International Legal Assistance on Criminal Matters” drafts with 39 clauses. Such special act shall be applied to regulate the criminal and judicial assistance and as the basic legal source for Taiwan to execute relevant matters and facilitate the request and execution of criminal and judicial assistance between Taiwan and other countries. A draft of the foresaid “Act” was ratified by the Minister of Justice and submitted to the Executive Yuan via official letter in April 2017 for review.

IV. Efforts in Cross-National Cooperation and Exchange 

The Ministry of Justice officially joined the Asset Recovery Inter-Agency Network of Asia/ Pacific (abbreviated as ARIN-AP) on January 28, 2014 and became a member state. The ARIN-AP platform strengthens Taiwan’s interaction, exchange and experience sharing with competent authorities worldwide. Moreover, the Ministry of Justice, the prosecutors and police also participate in international meetings and activities with enthusiasm to strengthen their ties with the central authority of other countries. Consequently the detention of proceeds from crimes shall be swiftly conducted when needed, in an attempt to thoroughly derive the incentives for committing crimes. 

In sum of the aforementioned, Taiwan’s Judicial Yuan analyzed the ruling results of statistics from foregoing improvement actions and revealed that the major interval for sentencing of telecommunication fraud cases ruled by local courts between November 2016 and February 2017 has increased to one year to two years; at least 70% of cases with ruling have been sentenced to more than one year since 2015. As for execution, Taiwan High Court Taichung Branch Court ruled cases regarding the telecommunication fraud organizations setting up computer rooms in Taiwan and Turkey with announcement of consolidated execution for sentencing to nine years imprisonment. Other High Court rulings also saw the consolidated execution for sentencing to ten years imprisonment for defendants in cross-telecommunication frauds. It is evident that judicial practice in Taiwan now shows trends of felony sentencing for crimes of telecommunication frauds. 

Taipei Trade and Economic Representative Office in Ulaanbaatar