Taiwan's Scam Survivors on Their Road to Recovery
Taiwan has seen a surge in scam cases in recent years, leaving countless fraud victims to cope with the financial and emotional fallout. Though the government has worked with some success to prevent scams from happening in the first place, those who have already been defrauded have few options to recover their losses. Despite this, some are finding ways to rebuild their lives and help others by sharing their story.
REPORTER:
Taipei resident Diana was on the eve of a divorce in 2022 and was worried about how it would affect her finances. Then she learned about a new friend her mother had made online.
Diana (SCAM SURVIVOR):
At that time, my mom was starting to have dementia. My life was in tatters from the divorce, and I was feeling weak in body and mind. [The scammer] told me, “This product can bring you long-term wealth. It can let you avoid paying inheritance taxes. You can keep this from your husband and make a stable income without compensating him. It’s a high-interest product. Just send the funds to Australia.”
REPORTER:
By the time Diana realized they’d been scammed, her mother had already died, and the inheritance that she’d left behind—some of which was meant to be passed down to Diana’s daughter—was gone.
Diana (SCAM SURVIVOR):
At first, I just couldn’t believe I’d made this decision. The thing I felt most guilty about was that I’d sunk all the money meant to send my daughter to study abroad into this scam. I’d put some money from my mom into it too.
REPORTER:
Diana is just one of countless scam survivors in Taiwan, a problem that has grown out of control in recent years. A January poll by local periodical Business Today found that up to 1.8 million Taiwanese – or around 9% of the country’s population – have fallen prey to scammers. And of those surveyed, 79% said the situation with fraud in Taiwan is “extremely severe.” And though the official numbers have fallen... scammers seem to be getting smarter... finding new ways to identify and ensnare their targets.
James (SCAM SURVIVOR):
[Those methods] include not only the bank-to-bank transfers from the past. They now also convert assets into cryptocurrency and put it in so-called cold and hot crypto wallets. Honestly, Taiwanese police are very weak about tracing financial flows on the blockchain, so [survivors] have to go through blockchain investigative firms instead. But the problem is these companies’ software is really expensive and survivors are already out of money. They don’t have enough to spend on this stuff.
REPORTER:
Even with these risks, many survivors find it hard to speak out about what happened to them, even if that means suffering in silence. Counseling psychologist Ann Chen says it’s common to feel a profound sense of shame after being scammed—something that can greatly affect how people see themselves and how much they’re willing to share about their experience.
Ann Chen (PSYCHOLOGIST):
This feeling of shame is tied to the way we think others see us. In what we consider a fair world and moral values, people might think, “You were scammed because you were greedy or because you were stupid.” So I think that feeling of shame makes us doubt ourselves. And another thing is that society putting this label on survivors can make that shame even more intense.
REPORTER:
The social consequences of this can be severe. In 2024, suicide became one of the top 10 causes of death in Taiwan for the first time in over a decade. Experts say rampant fraud is likely a major factor.
REPORTER:
Given the risks to their mental health, how can survivors cope? For Diana, she found peace by speaking out.
Diana (SCAM SURVIVOR):
Since 2022, I’ve made it through these three years. I’ve become a survivor. It wasn’t easy to get where I can see the light and become an advocate, letting people know this is a difficult journey to make, but you need rebuild your life.
REPORTER:
Though the road to financial and emotional recovery was long and uneven, Diana says taking responsibility for herself and her daughter’s future helped push her through. She hopes her experience can serve as an example for other people struggling with the fallout of a scam.
Devin Tsai and Jeremy Olivier with Zoom In Zoom Out for TaiwanPlus.
