Bank of Taiwan tellers at the Botian Road branch in Taipei’s Zhongzheng district refused to complete a NT$1 million withdrawal for a 76-year-old customer after Jieshou police warned the transaction matched a LINE “investment specialist” scam, extending a string of counter interventions that regulators credit with blocking billions in fraudulent transfers.
How the stop worked
According to i-News, branch staff contacted the Zhongzheng First Precinct after the customer insisted on wiring savings to an account pitched through LINE messages promising high returns. Officers Hung Huan-ching and Lai Yen-chi arrived, reviewed the chat logs, and spent nearly an hour explaining that scammers increasingly fabricate profit screenshots with generative AI tools.
The customer eventually abandoned the withdrawal, keeping the NT$1 million in place. Police publicized the case to encourage other banks to treat silence about investment details as a red flag rather than privacy protection.
Broader fraud pattern
The Financial Supervisory Commission’s spring advisory warned that criminals impersonate officials and celebrities to lure victims into foreign-stock schemes, then coach them through scripted answers when bank staff ask about large transfers. United Daily News profiled a former financial-industry worker who lost NT$23.1 million after months of gift-card grooming, noting fraud rings now rehearse counter questions and even supply fake engineering invoices.
FSC data show bank counter interventions blocked NT$11.2 billion in attempted fraud in 2025 alone, part of NT$29 billion over three years. The commission’s “three no’s” reminder — regulators will not call to freeze accounts, will not demand verification deposits, and will not coach stock purchases — remains the standard script tellers use when escalating cases to police.
Bank responsibilities
Under Taiwan’s anti-fraud rules, institutions must file suspicious transaction reports and may delay cash releases when customers cannot explain beneficiaries. Bank of Taiwan said it trains front-line staff to invoke police contact whenever elderly clients mention “confidential” investment opportunities on messaging apps.
Digital channels complicate the picture: many scams start with social-media ads for meal vouchers or shopping credits before pivoting to fake wealth-management products. Counter staff remain a last line when victims attempt lump-sum withdrawals after weeks of online grooming.
What regulators want next
The FSC is pushing banks to share typologies of scripted fraud answers with the 165 anti-fraud hotline so operators can challenge callers in real time. Jieshou police praised the Botian branch for slowing the transaction long enough for officers to arrive — a workflow Taipei’s Financial District hopes to standardize before year-end bonus season brings another wave of investment pitches.