Rampant Fraud Cases Negatively Impact DPP Campaign: Time for Minister Tang to Step Down
Summary Report by Taiwan Weekly
The work of the Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA), headed by Audrey Tang when it was officially established on August 27, 2022, covers five main areas: information, telecommunications, broadcasting, information security, and the Internet.
On its first anniversary, however, the public poll indicated that 80 percent of the respondents are dissatisfied with its performance; some Internet users don’t even know its existence. A few messages left by the netizens joked whether MODA should be transformed into Ministry of Take-out Delivery, remembering only the online application portals in the past which MODA retained private companies to construct.
In fact, the peoples' dissatisfaction with MODA comes from the rampant fraud cases in Taiwan. According to the statistics published by the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Ministry of Justice, nearly 30,000 fraud cases had been reported to the police during the first nine months of 2023, up 25 percent year on year. The defrauded money amounts to NT$730 million (about US$23.5 million).
In June this year, prosecution reform groups, together with 70 junior prosecutors put forth recommendations, they indicated that dummy phone numbers and accounts are the main source of all fraud cases. In addition, the lack of government control over rampant dummy numbers overseas, third-party payment, and virtual currency are the three critical keys that help the growth of fraud.
The prosecution reform groups specifically pointed out that the National Communications Commission (NCC), Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), and MODA are responsible. Among these three agencies, MODA should take most of the blame. For since its establishment last August, MODA has had a budget of over NT$20 billion (about US$6.4 billion) and manpower of over 600 staff. Nonetheless, since its establishment, information security leakage and fraud cases have become even more rampant.
In the interpellation, DPP Legislator Lin Chun-hsien indicated that MODA's lackluster performance in tackling fraud has put them in a difficult position, taking harsh blame from the people in his district. Moreover, he questioned the need for a new Ministry to send its people abroad so frequently. Up until the end of September this year, MODA has sent 86 staff overseas. One may wonder if they had actually brought back any new ideas and new applications that would benefit Taiwan's digital environment, or if such resources could have been put into fraud crackdown.
In a recent interview with DPP at-large legislator nominee and cognitive warfare expert, Shen Po-yang, Clara Chou, the renowned political commentator, took Minister Tang to task and labelled him as "another unexpected fraud."
Tang was picked from the business community by then-Premier Lin Chuan as his minister without portfolio for his expertise, at a time when Mega Bank was implicated in a money laundering case. But it has become apparent that Tang is unfit for her duty in the government bureaucracy.
When forced to comment on whether Minister Tang is capable, Shen answered tactfully that Tang is strong in coordination; but being a minister for digital affairs requires different abilities. According to Shen, Tang is better suited for a different position.