萬國法律事務所

Last April, Ms. Chang logged onto EZ Ding, the largest movie tickets booking online platform in Taiwan, to book movie tickets and paid NT$ 400 for tickets. However, she received a telephone call from an individual identifying himself as an employee of EZ Ding, who claimed that due to an error that occurred during the transaction process, the amount of every transaction had been duplicated twenty times. That person then claimed that EZ Ding required authorization from Ms. Chang in order to reimburse her for the over-charged amount.

After Miss Chang revealed the authorization code for her credit card to the man who identified himself as an EZ Ding employee, approximately NT$ 250,000 was taken from her account. Ms. Chang then initiated litigation against the Fullerton, the enterprise that operates the EZ Ding business, and demanded indemnification and solatium, at a total amount of NT$ 320,000.

The Taiwan Shilin District Court ruled that according to the Personal Information Protection Act, Fullerton did not implement proper security protection measures for its clients’ personal information, which led to the disclosure of Ms. Chang's data and theft of her funds. Fullerton was ordered to indemnify Miss Chang in the amount of NT$ 20,000 for the infringement of her privacy right. As there was no evidence of Fullerton's direct involvement or assistance in the scam, the remaining amount of her loss, NT$ 250,000 could not be attributed to any fault on Fullerton's behalf.

Attorneys suggest that if one receives a telephone call or message from such a scam gang with clear information as to the source, one should make and retain records and bring a claim indemnification in accordance with the Personal Information Protection Act. Further, if one has been deceived resulting in a monetary loss, in addition to reporting the matter to the police in an attempt to recover the loss, one could also bring a claim for damages in accordance with the articles related to torts in the Civil Code, provided there is proof that the subject company has colluded with or provided said personal information to the scam gang.