TikToker in S'pore claims her friend fell victim to fake Taiwan Arrival Card website, warns travellers
Travellers heading to Taiwan this holiday season have been warned about a fake Taiwan Arrival Card (TWAC) website, after TikToker Athalie Tseng claimed her friend personally fell victim to the scam.
Since Oct 1, Taiwan has gone fully digital with its arrival cards. All inbound travellers are required to complete an online TWAC, which is free of charge, up to three days before arrival.
QR code vs Google search
In a TikTok video posted on Nov 3, Ms Tseng (@athytude) recounted how she and her friends were caught out by the fradulent site at Taiwan customs.
According to Ms Tseng, two of the group, including herself, had scanned a QR code displayed at customs, which directed them to the official TWAC website.
Their third friend, however, searched for "Taiwan arrival card" online and unknowingly clicked on a scam website that mimicked the real one.
Ms Tseng said the fake site prompted her friend to enter credit card details, offering a free non-express application or a paid express service.
Apart from the payment page, the website's interface looked identical to the legitimate TWAC site.
Thinking it might be due to her Mainland Chinese citizenship, the group didn't suspect anything amiss - until an immigration officer informed them that she had not completed her registration.
By then, $80 had already been deducted from her card, according to Ms Tseng.
Red flags and lessons learned
Ms Tseng noted that when she filmed her TikTok, the fake site was still live and appeared as a sponsored search result.
"The scammer paid money to run ads," she said in her post.
She added that while Taiwanese authorities seemed aware of the scam, there were no clear advisories at customs warning travellers.
On-screen text in her video showed that she and her friends "didn't expect" such a scam to exist.
Ms Tseng advised travellers to check that URLs end with 'gov.tw', indicating an official Taiwanese government website.
She said she now only scans official QR codes to avoid similar scams.
Taiwan's National Immigration Agency issued an advisory on Oct 23, warning travellers of fraudulent websites impersonating the official TWAC platform.
Stomp has reached out to Ms Tseng for comment.
