The Financial Supervisory Commission instructed card issuers Monday to tighten dispute timelines after call-center logs showed a jump in chargebacks linked to fake logistics SMS messages sent during the Mid-Autumn parcel rush. Banks must acknowledge disputes within two business days and grant provisional credits within seven when customers report unauthorized charges from shortened URLs mimicking courier brands.
How the scam reaches card statements
Messages typically claim a NT$29 or NT$39 storage fee for an undelivered mooncake or gift box, then route victims through a cloned mobile-banking page. Entering card numbers and one-time passwords lets fraud rings run test transactions before larger transfers through quick-payment apps. MODA, the digital affairs ministry, warned separately about parallel “points expiring” texts targeting e-commerce accounts.
Issuers said many disputes involve first-time bindings between fresh accounts and crypto exchanges within an hour of the phishing click, a pattern the FSC wants risk engines to block automatically.
Rule changes on the table
The commission’s letter stops short of new legislation but sets supervisory expectations through year-end examinations. Card networks must share merchant category codes associated with known smishing domains, and customer-service scripts should tell holders to hang up on callers who claim they can “reverse” a scam if the victim transfers cash to a safe account.
What cardholders should do
Official guidance remains unchanged: open courier apps directly instead of tapping SMS links, and call the 165 anti-fraud hotline before entering OTP codes on unfamiliar pages. If a charge already posted, file a written dispute through the issuer’s app and preserve screenshots of the phishing URL.
Retail banks are staffing extra fraud desks this week as September statements close, the first cycle that includes holiday shopping abroad and domestic gift deliveries.
Industry pushback
Smaller issuers asked for shared fraud-intelligence feeds from logistics firms, arguing they cannot see parcel tracking numbers that would prove a charge is fake. The FSC said it will convene a working group with Taiwan’s major couriers and the Ministry of Digital Affairs to align SMS templates with whitelist rules the National Communications Commission enforces on commercial texts.
Bottom line
Faster provisional credits reduce household cash stress but do not replace prevention. The commission’s Monday notice is a bet that tighter bank timelines will pressure carriers and platforms to authenticate outbound messages before the Double Ten shopping wave hits.
Card networks said they will share anonymized merchant IDs tied to phishing domains with the 165 hotline starting October, closing a gap between bank fraud desks and police takedown teams.