“I finally saved up some money and wanted to send it back home,” said Ani, a migrant care worker in the Philippines. “I didn’t imagine I would get scammed.” In fact, migrant workers are more likely to be scammed due to language and cultural barriers, as well as a lack of understanding of Taiwan's financial system. The government and banks should include migrant workers in their financial education, including fraud awareness publicity, remittance instructions, and savings planning, so that migrants can learn about legitimate financial institutions and avoid being deceived. Meanwhile, banks themselves should also explore relevant business opportunities.

Approaching 800,000 migrant workers 

The total number of migrant workers in Taiwan is approaching 800,000, accounting for almost 1/30 of Taiwan's population. They include about 280,000 Indonesian workers and 260,000 Vietnamese workers, plus the Philippines and other countries. About half work in either factories or personal care, forming one of the most important pillars of Taiwan's grassroots labor force. 

As native Taiwanese increase their fraud awareness, it is becoming more difficult for scammers to obtain their dummy accounts. Therefore, they have turned their attention to the accounts of foreign workers, who have stable income, yet generally lack financial knowledge. Alternatively, they may also steal directly from them, taking advantage of when they are out of the country or their whereabouts are unknown, thus hindering a police response.

One-Forty, a Taiwan-based migrant worker education and cultural association which has been engaged in Southeast Asian migrant worker community education for nine years, has seen many cases of fraud against migrants. Its Survey of Financial Management Awareness by Migrant Workers showed that 27% of the migrants interviewed had been defrauded, of which 85% had been victimized 1-2 times, and 15% more than 3 times. The average amount was NT$7,995 - a shocking figure when compared with their typical salaries. With nearly 800,000 migrant workers in Taiwan, the total amount can be estimated at NT$1.7 billion.

Foreign caregivers can be the first line of defense against elder fraud 

Wu You-shun, founder and general manager of Eastern Union Interactive, has long paid attention to migrant workers' issues. He mentioned that strengthening their financial knowledge has many benefits; foreign caregivers are not only an important part of many elderly and sick families, but also the first line of defense against elder fraud. The Survey shows that one in every 10 foreign caregivers in Taiwan - translating to over 20,000 subjects of 240,000 caregivers - have seen their care subjects being defrauded. 

Wu mentions that migrant workers are scammed in three main ways: borrowing from fake relatives and friends, cross-border remittances, and fake shopping websites. Some of these cases may arise from fellow countrymen or friends. Wu believes that fraud can be avoided through public financial education: by informing migrant workers of financial knowledge and of safe financial institutions approved by the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), they can reduce their reliance on informal channels, such as underground remittances and offshore insurance.

In the past, banks may have ignored the needs of migrants. "All our clients are migrant workers from Southeast Asia," said Wu. "When they come to Taiwan, they have language and cultural issues, which require an adaptation process. Remittance services are part of financial inclusion."

Kevin Chen, founder of One-Forty, said that migrant workers leave their home countries to work in unfamiliar environments, carrying with them the expectations of their families for financial support. They usually have little free time, making it difficult for them to obtain fraud prevention knowledge and assistance.

The government has also gradually started taking migrant fraud more seriously. In order to prevent their account information from being used by scammers, and to reduce the incidence of fraud, the Executive Yuan's inter-ministerial Anti-Fraud Command Center, supervised by the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Labor, FSC, and Personal Data Protection Committee Preparatory Office, connected the Ministry of the Interior’s Immigration Bureau database to the Joint Credit Information Center to obtain information on whether foreigners are in Taiwan, which can be provided to financial institutions. If abnormal cash flow is observed, the account can be frozen.

In addition, the Ministry of Labor has also released fraud awareness messages in multiple languages ​​on the Foreigners’ Labor Rights Network, the 1955 Migrant Workers Complaint Hotline, and its Facebook page and LINE account. Workers’ entry training is used to strengthen awareness when possible, advising subjects that providing their personal bank accounts to others in exchange for money could make them accomplices to fraud, which could have civil and criminal liability, and affect their working rights in Taiwan.

Financial education in their native language

Wu said that Eastern Union Interactive and One-Forty are working together to provide financial education through videos in workers’ native languages. They have also held lectures near National Tsing Hua University and Hsinchu Science Park. After taking basic financial knowledge courses, many foreign caregivers and factory workers have gained a better understanding of Taiwan’s legal financial channels. In the future, they also hope to learn more about investment and related topics.

It will take a long time to raise fraud awareness. In addition, fraud prevention through bank systems is also necessary. Wu said that if migrant workers use the Eastern Union Interactive app to complete KYC and record their work location and transaction patterns, the system issues warnings when abnormal transactions are detected.

Banks have also started to realize that financial opportunities are lacking for migrant workers. Recently, Taipei Fubon Bank jointly launched a series of "Migrant Worker Financial Inclusion Actions" with One-Forty, including a bilingual Indonesian and Chinese production of the "Rich Life" board game, allowing both caregivers and seniors to learn about fraud and finances through gamification. The board game is available in four languages: Indonesian, Philippine, Vietnamese, and Thai. Fraud prevention guides and banking service user guides are being provided free of charge to migrant workers through 179 Fubon branches across Taiwan, as well as One-Forty.

Fubon and One-Forty have developed relevant physical and online courses targeting the pain points and needs of migrant workers to increase their understanding of banking, make them more willing to use legal financial services, and build their vigilance and ability to identify fraud. Both Wu and Chen hope that more banks will invest in a financial inclusion fraud prevention network for migrant workers, improving their financial knowledge and skills so that a more diverse society can also be made safer and more harmonious.