There are countless victims of telecommunications fraud, and many families have been shattered due to it: some have lost all their family wealth due to telecommunications fraud, while others have lost contact or even their lives after their relatives went to northern Myanmar to engage in fraud.

To protect the life and property safety of our citizens, since last year, our public security police have publicly issued warrants for the leaders of the northern Myanmar telecommunications fraud groups and successfully dismantled the so-called "Four Major Families" in northern Myanmar, significantly reducing the incidence of telecommunications fraud.

However, telecommunications fraud has not disappeared but has shifted its base and changed its appearance, waiting to make a comeback. Why is it so difficult to "eradicate" telecommunications fraud? The huge benefits and the willingness to take risks are naturally one of the reasons, and Taiwan is actually the main base and backstage for northern Myanmar, which is also one of the reasons.

What is the connection between Taiwan and northern Myanmar?

When it comes to telecommunications fraud, the first thing that comes to mind is northern Myanmar and "Ga Yao Zi" among other keywords. Indeed, in recent years, northern Myanmar has become a major disaster area for telecommunications fraud crimes. In the region, there are many fraud parks with armed "security" and a large number of scammers who have come to northern Myanmar voluntarily or have been deceived.

Another set of data shows that since China has focused on cracking down on telecommunications fraud crimes in northern Myanmar, more than 53,000 suspects of cross-border telecommunications network fraud have been arrested, and the large-scale fraud parks near the border in northern Myanmar have been completely eradicated.

But we know that telecommunications fraud has not completely disappeared, and even data shows that these fraud industries have moved to other countries such as Dubai.

Why is it that despite such great efforts to combat telecommunications fraud, it continues to persist? Some believe that this is because Taiwan is actually the main base and backstage for northern Myanmar. Although the four major families of northern Myanmar have been eradicated, Taiwan's fraud industry has not been completely cleared, so the fraud industry has not disappeared but has shifted.

So, why is Taiwan connected to northern Myanmar? Because fraud has long become an "industry" in Taiwan. Since the 1990s, telecommunications fraud has become popular in Taiwan, and the rampant fraudsters in Taiwan have once made Taiwan known as the "Island of Fraud". Media reports claim that the scams that have appeared in the mainland in recent years are not "new tricks"; they have already appeared in Taiwan.

After Taiwan began to crack down on telecommunications fraud, these fraudsters began to "transfer industries". In recent years, most Taiwanese fraudsters have moved their industries to northern Myanmar.

Why northern Myanmar? There are historical reasons. At the end of the Chinese Civil War, some remnants of the Kuomintang fled to the Myanmar-Thailand border. At that time, Chiang Kai-shek still thought about "counterattacking the mainland", so he did not recall them and continued to allocate funds monthly, allowing them to settle there.

However, the "counterattack on the mainland" was never successful, and although the Kuomintang authorities tried to withdraw troops, those troops had already tasted the sweetness of "being kings of the mountain" in Myanmar and were unwilling to return. Thus, northern Myanmar began to see a population that spoke Chinese and retained important living habits. With northern Myanmar being a "lawless land" in Myanmar, it became the preferred location for Taiwanese fraudsters.

Taiwan is the real hub of fraud

Saying that Taiwan is the "Island of Fraud" is not without basis. As early as 2016, the People's Daily Overseas Edition reported that fraud techniques were prevalent in Taiwan, many of which would seem "very familiar" to the people of the mainland.

For example, in the 1980s, Taiwan had the "Golden Light Party", which pretended to lose "gold" to lure passersby to pick it up and then approached to share the loot. This later evolved into the "lost bag fraud" that became very active in the streets and alleys of the mainland.

For example, in the late 1990s, Taiwan was rife with the practice of sending prize tickets, luring victims to contact them actively and commit fraud. This type of fraud spread to the mainland and became known as "entertainment program prize" fraud. The fraudsters used the names of well-known domestic entertainment programs to commit fraud.

For example, "kinship" fraud was also invented by Taiwanese fraudsters, where the fraudsters pretended to kidnap the victim's children to commit fraud. Later, mainland fraudsters further "upgraded" this scam, evolving into various fraud methods such as car accidents and accidents.

Later, the island also saw the prevalence of TV shopping fraud, impersonating banks to commit fraud, impersonating public institutions to commit fraud, and many other scams, which are probably very "familiar" to everyone.

So, why has Taiwan become the "hub of fraud"? Because the punishment for fraud in Taiwan is quite "mild". Media reports show that under Taiwan's current "Criminal Law", telecommunications fraud criminals are only sentenced to less than 5 years of fixed-term imprisonment, detention, or a fine of less than 500,000 yuan.

This level of punishment, compared to the benefits obtained by the fraudsters, can be said to be "a drop in the ocean", insignificant, which leads many fraudsters to continue engaging in fraud after being released from prison, and they become more experienced.

The latest data from this year shows that the number of fraud cases in Taiwan has been increasing year by year. From 2020 to 2023, the number of annual fraud cases and the amount involved in Taiwan have reached new highs: 37,984 cases, involving 8.8 billion New Taiwan dollars.

This is just the fraud cases occurring in Taiwan, not including the funds from fraud cases in northern Myanmar that flow to Taiwan. We say that Taiwan is actually the main base and backstage for northern Myanmar, also for this reason. For example, data shows that every year, the amount of fraud funds flowing from northern Myanmar to Taiwan is as high as billions of yuan, and although the mainland public security authorities have taken various measures to recover the assets, they have actually only recovered 200,000 yuan from Taiwan.

Moreover, although the two sides signed an agreement on joint crime fighting and judicial assistance after 2009, since the Democratic Progressive Party came to power, various "anti-China" policies have been introduced. Once the Democratic Progressive Party finds out that Taiwanese fraudsters are to be extradited to the mainland, they will be furious and try every means to "bring them back to Taiwan".

In the beginning, the mainland side transferred a large number of Taiwanese telecommunications fraud suspects to Taiwan, but the Taiwanese side not only did not severely punish them but gave these fraud suspects light sentences or even outright acquittals, which also made Taiwan a "paradise" for telecommunications fraud.

It is said that at least 100,000 people in Taiwan are engaged in telecommunications fraud crimes, making the "International Fraud Island" name well-deserved.

The Democratic Progressive Party's anti-fraud efforts only lead to more fraud

But the purpose of telecommunications fraudsters is to swindle money, and they don't care whether the money comes from mainlanders or Taiwanese people, as long as they get the money. Therefore, telecommunications fraud in Taiwan is becoming more rampant, and the Taiwanese people are also deeply affected. Under the heavy pressure of public opinion on the island, the Democratic Progressive Party authorities established a special "anti-fraud" agency in 2022 and invested 1.3 billion New Taiwan dollars in "anti-fraud actions", but the actual results turned out to be "the more you fight, the more fraud occurs". Why is this?

On the one hand, this is because although the Taiwanese anti-fraud action has a budget of 1.3 billion, 70% of the funds are used for equipment, and the most critical "lack of manpower" problem in the Taiwanese anti-fraud action has not been resolved.

Kuomintang legislators criticized that the anti-fraud hotline in Taiwan receives an average of 1,184 calls per day, but there are only 45 dedicated personnel, who are simply too busy. The funds for temporary personnel in the anti-fraud special funds are only 6%, which is not enough to solve the problem.

And is that 70% of the funds really used for anti-fraud equipment? Recently, the Kuomintang criticized that when Taiwanese grassroots police freeze fraud accounts, they still need to notify the bank through a fax machine, which is inefficient and delays the opportunity, increasing the loss of the victims. The Kuomintang side criticized that while fraud groups have begun to use virtual currency and AI for fraud, the police are still using fax machines, which will only cause more people to suffer. Why can't the money be spent on designing an anti-fraud system instead of spending money on launching useless things like anti-fraud "LINE stickers"?

Secondly, the light sentencing of telecommunications fraud criminals in Taiwan undoubtedly "condones" crime to some extent. Data statistics show that more than 40% of Taiwanese telecommunications fraud criminals are sentenced to less than 6 months of fixed-term imprisonment, and only 1% of telecommunications fraud criminals are sentenced to 3 years or more of "heavy sentences". Taiwanese grassroots prosecutors also complain that it is not easy to catch fraudsters, and when they are sent to court, they are either released on bail or given light sentences, which is essentially giving the suspects a free plane ticket back to Taiwan.

Finally, fraud gangs have infiltrated all aspects of Taiwan, with lawyers and police becoming accomplices of fraud groups. Media reports claim that because Taiwanese fraud groups make money too easily, they are generous and can easily bribe police and lawyers. Some police have long cooperated with fraud groups and taken cuts; some lawyers are specifically responsible for handling the legal affairs of fraudsters after they are caught, to "manage group risks".

In this situation, the Democratic Progressive Party announced that it will increase the anti-fraud budget for 2025 to 7.3 billion New Taiwan dollars, an increase of about 5.6 times, hoping to further combat telecommunications fraud crimes. But the Taiwanese people are not convinced, even saying that it would be better to give the money to the fraud groups, which could "save some money".

Actually, we can see that as long as the Democratic Progressive Party does not truly solve the problems existing in Taiwan's anti-fraud efforts, then Taiwanese fraudsters will only "increase in number the more they are fought against". If the mainland eliminates one northern Myanmar, more northern Myanmars will appear, and any place that allows Taiwanese fraudsters to exploit loopholes may become a telecommunications fraud park.