TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Taiwan's Deputy Minister of the Interior Ma Shi-yuan (馬士元) revealed on Thursday (Jan. 16) that police discovered a fraud ring spending up to NT$250 million (around US$7.5 million) on scam ads in six months, highlighting that the ministry's anti-fraud annual budget stands at only NT$230 million (around US$6.9 million). Authorities in Taiwan are raising alarms over proposed budget cuts that could weaken anti-fraud efforts and public safety.
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) highlighted the issue during a press conference on the 2025 central government budget, noting that the media promotion expenses, vital for public awareness, were mostly slashed from last year's "Anti-Scam Action Program 2.0" (打詐行動綱領2.0). Cho emphasized that reducing funding for fraud-related equipment hampers technological investigations and cross-border fraud mechanisms.
Ma expressed concern that cutting anti-scam promotion funds is akin to surrendering to fraudsters. A November TVBS poll showed over 87% of the public believes anti-scam campaigns must continue, fearing budget cuts would allow fraud rings to evolve further. Ma also mentioned that proposals to cut NT$100 million from the "Resilient National Medical Readiness Project" (韌性國家醫療整備計畫) threaten essential firefighting resources.
Deputy Minister of Justice Hsu Hsi-hsiang (徐錫祥) warned that the opposition parties' proposals to cut NT$12.34 million from media policy advocacy funds would impact legal education and major policy promotion. He also noted that proposed NT$80 million cuts to the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office (台灣高檢署) and Taipei District Prosecutors Office (台北地檢署) would hinder prosecutorial work and criminal investigations.