00:00A new survey, released today at the legislature, shows that when migrant workers come to Taiwan
00:04they don't just face a language barrier and the other ordinary challenges of a new life
00:08in an unfamiliar country.
00:10This survey suggests they're also at high risk from scammers.
00:14The survey of migrant workers by NGO TransAsia Sisters Association, Taiwan, found 30 percent
00:19of migrant workers have encountered a scam here, with around half that number saying
00:23they fell for it.
00:25These scams take many forms, including the typical online shopping and romance scams
00:29that have become a problem for Taiwanese people as well.
00:32But there are also people out there ready to exploit the special vulnerabilities migrant workers have.
00:37One researcher behind the survey says, some scammers offer to introduce high paying jobs
00:42for a fee, only to run off with the money.
00:45And then there are people who pretend to be the police or a government agency to extort
00:49people.
00:50Another researcher says the system as it stands now, with migrant workers unable to change
00:59employers and tempted to work illegally, creates conditions ripe for scammers to exploit.
01:05She also says migrant workers have little information about their rights or ways to flag abuse in their own languages.
01:20Two lawmakers are here to say this must stop, and that the government must step in.
01:40They say foreign language support and solutions for migrant workers' practical needs, especially
01:44for sending money back home, are key.
01:47The activists gathered here have four demands based on the survey results.
02:06They want more channels for multilingual information.
02:09They want closer work with NGOs' migrant workers' trust.
02:13They want an easier way for migrant workers to flag scammers.
02:17And they say the government should improve working conditions that see some workers flee their employers
02:21and become vulnerable to scammers as they do illegal jobs.
02:25The presence of lawmakers here today suggests that the report has the ears of at least some
02:29in the government.
02:30The migrant rights workers activists hope that this will bring their four demands forward.
02:35Hank Hsu and John Van Trieste in Taipei for Taiwan Plus.
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