The outcome from the determination and efforts by government interdepartmental sectors in rigorous fights against fraud crimes

The prevention of fraud crimes has long been one of the key policies of Taiwan. Following the liberalization and globalization of telecommunication and internet, fraud cases now become more grouped and organized, which are often integrated with internet, telecommunication, and communication technology to evolve into new types of electronic fraud crimes. To implement the determination of Taiwan in fight against crimes, the Ministry of Justice recently proceeded with the “Sophistication of Crime Investigation and Prevention,” “Integration of Resources from Different Governmental Agencies and Departments,” and “Take Actions in Promoting the Amendment to Improve Relevant Laws and Regulations” through the following proactive actions, as described in the instruction:

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 of Ministry of Justice ensures that no one can profit from crimes and subsequently appeal in the effective 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
2. Establish “Cross-Border Telecom Fraud and Asset Recovery Platform”

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

1. Add Aggravated fraud offense to Criminal Code
2. Take Actions in Promoting Amendments to the Money Laundering Control Act:
3. Amend Organized Crime Prevention Act and Restructure and Re-define the Structure of Organized Crime:
4. Develop the Act on International Legal Assistance on Criminal Matters and Provide reference for Recovery of Assets:

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. Such organization was founded under the assistance of “United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)” by Korean, which mission of establishment aims to advocate for the network to become the judicial mutual assistance of intelligence for countries in Asia/Pacific, enhance the performance of judicial mutual assistance, remove the platforms in obstructing crime asset return. Taiwan is a ARIN-AP based platform that strengthens its interaction, exchange and experience sharing with competent authorities worldwide.

V. Current Actions and Performance of Improvement

In sum of the aforementioned, the 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. The statistics of Ministry of Justice also reveal that 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 2013 Shan-Yi-Zi No. 551 and 2016 Shan-Su-Zi No. 788 regarding the telecommunication fraud organizations setting up computer rooms in Taiwan and Turkey with announcement of consolidated execution for sentencing to nine years imprisonment. The ruling for Taiwan High Court Case 2011 Shan-Yi No. 62, 2013 Shan-Su-Zi No. 1800 and 2016 Jing-Shan-Su No. 22 also announced the consolidated execution for sentencing to ten years imprisonment for defendants in cross-telecommunication frauds. It is evident that judicial practice now shows trends of felony sentencing for crimes of telecommunication frauds.