Almost 30% of migrant workers fall for financial fraud in Taiwan: Survey

Taipei, Sept. 26 (CNA) Nearly 30 percent of migrant workers in Taiwan have been victims of financial fraud, with each person losing an average of NT$7,995 (US$250.7), according to a survey released Thursday by Taipei Fubon Bank and the nonprofit One-Forty.

The survey was conducted in June and July among migrant workers from Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Thailand in 21 cities and counties and collected 564 valid samples, One-Forty co-founder Kevin Chen (陳凱翔) told a news conference in Taipei.

Among the respondents, 27 percent said they had been scammed while working in Taiwan. Of those, 15 percent were defrauded more than twice, the survey showed.

The survey showed the workers lost an average of NT$7,995.

That is a significant amount of money for them, considering that the average monthly salary of the respondents stood at NT$24,280, Chen said.

In addition, the survey found that the three most common fraud schemes were scammers pretending to be friends or family needing to borrow money (15.7 percent), false money transfer services (11.7 percent), and fake online shopping websites (10.6 percent).

Chen explained that holidays when remittance services are closed or when a worker's residency is being renewed are the most common times for them to be scammed by fake money transfer services.

One-Forty recorded an incident involving an Indonesian worker who has lived in Taiwan for 10 years and lost NT$30,000 after being duped by a fake advertisement on Facebook about a money transfer service that would not require them to present identification documents, Chen said.

Furthermore, citing the survey, Chen said one out of every 10 caregivers had witnessed their care recipient being scammed. Therefore, educating the approximately 240,000 migrant caregivers in Taiwan could help prevent at least 20,000 elderly Taiwanese from being defrauded.

The survey also found that about 90 percent of respondents wanted to learn how to manage their money and become financially independent. The areas migrant workers wanted to focus on were forming good buying habits, creating a long-term personal finance plan and setting saving goals.

Chen said that One-Forty will team up with Taipei Fubon Bank to develop a series of online and in-person courses and a Chinese-Indonesian bilingual tabletop game that migrant caregivers can play with care recipients so they can learn how to better manage and safeguard their savings.