Chapter 5 Management of Suspicious or Unusual Transactions |
| Article 34 |
The standards for determining what constitutes an electronic payment accounts and registered stored value cards with suspicious or unusual transactions are referred to in these Rules and the classification sheme for such accounts, are as follows:
1. Category 1:
(1) The account or card is opened or registered under a fake name;
(2) The account is a watch-listed e-payment account;
(3) The account is a derivative watch-listed account.
2. Category 2:
(1) The applicant applies for opening an e-payment account frequently over a short period of time and fails to provide a reasonable explanation;
(2) The transaction functions applied for are obviously inconsistent with the user's age or background;
(3) The contact information provided by the user cannot be verified by using reasonable measures;
(4) The e-payment account has been reported by a financial institution or a member of the general public as being used by someone suspected of criminal activity;
(5) The e-payment account has been used for high volumes of small amount inward/outward remittances suspected of being probing activities;
(6) The user makes frequent use of electronic services or facilities of banks over a short period of time in a manner that is obviously at variance with the normal transaction activities of the user;
(7) An inactive account with unexpected unusual transactions;
(8) Accounts with transactions that show signs of money laundering as set out in the Template for Directions Governing Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism of Electronic Payment Institutions; and
(9) Other e-payment accounts or registered stored value cards with transactions determined by the competent authorities or electronic payment institutions to be suspicious or irregular.
In case of major contingencies involving e-payment accounts reported as watch-listed accounts or rescission of such classification by a court, public prosecutor’s office, or judicial police authority, the court, public prosecutor’s office, or judicial police authority may notify the electronic payment institution by telephone, fax, or any other feasible means, followed by a confirming official letter and documents which shallbe delivered to the electronic payment institution within five business days. If such letter or documents are not delivered in a timely manner or are not delivered, the electronic payment institution shallcontact with the original notification agency prior to rescinding the watch-listed status of the e-payment account.
An electronic payment institution shall establish internal operation guidelines for identifying suspicious or unusual transactions of e-payment accounts and registered stored value cards. |
| Article 35 |
Electronic payment institution shall adopt the following measures for e-payment accounts or registered stored value cards with transactions reported as suspicious or unusual based on the categorization standards set out in the preceding article:
1. Category 1:
(1) If an e-payment account or registered stored value card is registered under a fake name, the electronic payment institution shall notify judicial police authorities, Money Laundering Division of the Investigation Bureau, Ministry of Justice, and JCIC. The electronic payment institution shall immediately close the account or the registered stored value card. Any balance shall disposed of at the instructions of the person who legally has the right to claim such balance; or
(2) For an e-payment account reported as a Watch-listed Account by a court, public prosecutor’s office, or judicial police authority, the electronic payment institution shall notify JCIC immediately. For an e-payment account reported as a Watch-listed Account or designated as a derivative Watch-listed Account by a court, public prosecutor’s office, or judicial police authority, the electronic payment institution shall suspend all transaction functions of the account. The funds stored or remitted into the account after the suspension shall be directly refunded to the original payment instrument.
(3) Measures to be taken in accordance with other regulations.
2. Category 2:
(1) The electronic payment institution shall investigate and continue to monitor such e-payment accounts or registered stored value cards. If it discovers illegal activities, it shall notify judicial police authorities and adopt, in whole or in part, the measures specified in the preceding subparagraph.
(2) Measures to be taken in accordance with the Money Laundering Control Act and other applicable laws and regulations. |
| Article 36 |
The watch-list period of watch-listed e-payment accounts shall start from the notification from the court, public prosecutor’s office, or judicial police authority. It shall automatically expire after two years elapse. However, if it is necessary to be watch-listed, the authority which originally reported the watch-listed account may send another notification prior to the expiry. The extension of the notification shall be limited to once and the period of extension may not exceed one year.
The electronic payment institution may not remove limitations on a Watch-listed Account until it has received notification from the authority that issued the original notification, or upon expiry of the watch-list period.
Where an e-payment account or a registered stored value card is a derivative watch-listed account or with transactions reported as suspicious or unusual under standards specified in Subparagraph 2, Paragraph 1 of Article 34, the electronic payment institution shall immediately rescind related limitations after verifying that the suspicious or unusual situations has been eliminated.
Where the watch-list status of a watch-listed e-payment account is terminated based on a notification from the authority that issued the original notification, or where the authority that issued the original notification notifies the electronic payment institution to continue the watch-list status, the electronic payment institution shall notify JCIC immediately. |
| Article 37 |
If an electronic payment institution confirms that a e-payment account reported as a watch-listed account was reported as such in connection with fraud, and the account still holds money remitted or transferred in by fraud victims, the electronic payment institution shall, using the account opening information, contact the account holder and negotiate with such account holder for return of such remaining money in the watch-listed account. If the account holder cannot be located, the bank may seek the help of police to try to find the person for one month.
If an electronic payment institution carrying out the procedures described in the preceding paragraph is unable to contact the user, it shall notify the victims through the remitting (transferring) institutions to prepare the following documents and, based on the time of inward remittance (transfer), return the remaining money held in the watch-listed account to victims, starting from the last remitted amount first until there is no more money left in the account:
1. A certificate of reporting case issued by the police authority.
2. Undertaking issued by the victim, which states that he/she will bear all liability for any damages incurred by the bank due to untrue information provided by such victim.
With respect to returning the remaining money held in a watch-listed account pursuant to the preceding two paragraphs, if any of the following occurs, an electronic payment institution may record such remaining money as an account payable and wait until a person legally having the right to claim such money requests repayment; provided that, the electronic payment institution may rescind the effect of the watch-listing from such watch-listed account once the electronic payment institution is notified to rescind the account from the watch-list, or the watch-list period expires:
1. The account balance is less than a certain amount, which the cost of returning the money would make such return not worthwhile;
2. The electronic payment institution is unable to contact either the account holder or the victim(s) within three months after receipt of the notification; or
3. Victim(s) is (are) unwilling to report the case or to claim the money.
The electronic payment institution shall appoint a deputy general manager or officer of equivalent level to be responsible for supervising the handling of balances held in watch-listed e-payment accounts.
Cases suspected of involving transaction disputes or which are otherwise complicated shall be handled by judicial procedures, and the rules regarding return of balances under Paragraph 1 to Paragraph 3 shall not apply thereto. |
| Article 38 |
For e-payment accounts reported as watch-listed accounts by a court, public prosecutor’s office, or judicial police authority, an electronic payment institution shall check relevant transactions. If an electronic payment institution finds that funds reported as fraudulent have been remitted to another e-payment account or a deposit account, the electronic payment institution shall notify the receiving electronic payment institution or the bank of the remittance of such amount and the name of the authority which originally reported the watch-listed account, and shall also notify the original reporting authority.
The original reporting authority that reported the watch-listed account shall verify the information listed in the preceding paragraph. If the original reporting authority believes the receiving account shall also be classified as a watch-listed account, it shall notify the relevant electronic payment institution or bank to classify such account as a watch-listed account.
The electronic payment institution or bank receiving the fraudulent funds shall proceed with a transaction check and notification process in compliance with Paragraph 1 of this Article. If such receiving electronic payment institution or bank finds any illegality, it shall adopt the measures as listed in Subparagraph 2 of Article 35.
The method and contents of notifications and of required documents under this article shall be adopted by the Electronic Payment Committee of the Bankers Association of the Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the Bankers Association) and reported to the competent authority for recordation. |
| Article 39 |
If an e-payment account is reported as a Watch-listed Account by a court, public prosecutor’s office, or judicial police authority after the amount of such e-payment account has been ordered attached or preserved, such account shall still be marked as a Watch-listed Account, but such amount shall be handled in accordance with the attachment order or preservation order. |