With the global cost of cybercrime expected to top US$10.5 trillion by 2025, protecting the data of businesses and individuals has become vital to ensure that they are not a victim of phone or internet-based fraud. That is just one reason Taiwan Mobile – a leading telecoms solutions provider – has launched two tools that can protect both corporate clients and individual customers from online fraud.  

The tools – a number masking solution (安心Call), and an anti-phishing service (反詐戰警) – are already bearing fruit. Rock Tsai, Taiwan Mobile vice president and chief information officer, notes that the company has received positive feedback on the tools from online retailer Momo, which was an early adopter of the services.   

“Since Momo implemented our number masking service, customer complaints dropped dramatically,” Tsai says.  

As a leading e-commerce platform, Momo sends thousands of deliveries to customers across Taiwan every day, invariably with the customer’s name, address, and phone number printed on the delivery label. Tsai explains that with third-party handling of information, customers worry that their phone number could end up on the call list of telephone scammers. For Momo’s customer service teams, it had been an increasingly challenging problem to manage.  

Taiwan Mobile’s number masking solution hides the customer’s real number, instead generating a temporary number printed on the delivery label that only the courier can call. Once the package is safely delivered, the number can no longer be called. This solution protects the customer, courier, and e-commerce platform, explains Tsai. In a competitive space such as e-commerce, peace of mind for customers and trust in the e-commerce company and delivery teams are paramount. Now, other e-commerce and retail companies are interested in utilizing this solution and have approached Taiwan Mobile to learn more.  

Even more challenging is website phishing, a practice in which scammers create websites that appear legitimate to the average user. The aim of these websites is to steal personal information, such as identity card data or banking details. Once scammers have obtained a mobile number, they send texts that mimic bank communication, asking customers to confirm details through a link provided. The link redirects users to the fake website, where the victim unwittingly inputs sensitive data such as online banking passwords.  

By using Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, Taiwan Mobile works with its clients to scan and flag suspicious sites that mimic the design, color scheme, or content style of legitimate sites. Once a fraudulent site has been detected and reported, the company coordinates with the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) to block web traffic from reaching the site.  

“Globally, 250,000 new websites are created every day, so it is a huge number of sites to track,” says Tsai. “To address this, we take a two-step approach. The first step is to report confirmed phishing sites to the CIB, which then issues a process to verify the fake website and requests that Taiwan’s internet service providers block web traffic originating in Taiwan from accessing those sites. The first step only takes an hour or so. The second step includes working to remove the site from the internet, which usually takes five to ten days.”  

So far, around 40 companies – primarily banks – are using or testing the service, which officially launched in 2023. While AI bots do the heavy lifting to scan suspicious websites, Taiwan Mobile also offers a reporting mechanism for individual users to report fraudulent websites, at 97178.twmsolution.com.  

Tsai credits Taiwan Mobile President Jamie Lin for supporting the technology teams within the company and encouraging them to innovate and develop solutions that meet the needs of businesses. It was Lin who brought Tsai on from the financial services sector to better meet the needs of the company’s banking clients.  

So far, e-commerce, retail, and financial services are the first industries to use the new tools. But Tsai notes that Taiwan Mobile expects interest from other industries and even the public sector in the future.  

“We understand our customers’ pain points because our parent group runs e-commerce and banking units,” he says. “At Taiwan Mobile, we are also encouraged to think group-wide and to innovate. This helps us identify opportunities that will work across different industries.”  

The demand for effective solutions to safeguard all our data will only increase as more services are offered online and as online trade and transactions increase, Tsai notes. By utilizing Taiwan Mobile’s services, customers can effectively protect their data and assets from being stolen.