One sentence in Taiwan's anti-fraud statute shapes disputes over frozen exchange accounts. When an exchange causes damage to customers by implementing the Act's fraud-prevention measures, or by cooperating with the police, it is "exempted from the compensation responsibility." That is the official English translation of Article 12(2) of the Fraud Crime Hazard Prevention Act.
So the practical questions are which measure froze the account, who can lift it, and how fast. A claim for the price drop comes a distant second.
The exchange's own control
Article 8(1) of the Act requires exchanges to strengthen customer verification on accounts suspected of fraud links. It lets them suspend deposits and withdrawals, block transfers of money or virtual assets out, suspend some or all trading, or refuse service.
What counts as suspicious is set out in thirteen items in Article 12 of the Regulations Governing Fraud Crime Hazard Prevention by Financial Institutions and Businesses or Personnel Providing Virtual Asset Services, last amended on July 20, 2026. Repeated small transfers that look like testing are on the list. So is a dormant account that suddenly trades.
Item 9 is written for foreigners. It covers a non-citizen whose residence certificate, checked when the account was opened, was cancelled before its expiry date, who has overstayed, or who was reported missing. Leaving a job can lead there. When the reason for residence disappears, the National Immigration Agency revokes the residence permit and cancels the certificate, with exceptions such as a pending labor-dispute lawsuit (Immigration Act Article 31(4)).
Twenty days, and then what?
The exchange may report the account to the police (Regulations Article 25). Police then have 20 days to notify it, by official document, whether to keep or lift the control. Silence does not free the account. If no notice comes, the exchange may continue the control (Article 26(1)).
Police can also act first. To investigate fraud, they may notify an exchange to list an account as a warning account and stop all transactions (Act Article 9(4)). The exchange then halts every function and traces where the reported assets went (Regulations Article 45). No reply deadline like the 20 days or 48 hours applies to a warning designation. Article 66(2) of the Regulations mentions only release by notice and expiry of the warning period.
The 48-hour hold
A narrower restriction comes through the banks' and exchanges' joint reporting chain. When the previous bank or exchange reports that scam proceeds moved into your account, the exchange holds that amount. Police must, within 48 hours of the hold, say whether the account becomes a warning account. If no designation arrives, the exchange releases the hold on its own (Article 48).
Whether the whole account stopped or only a set amount is held shows which of these rules applies and whom to ask.
Where to push
For a control imposed on police instructions, you may ask the exchange and, where needed, the police unit that issued the instruction (Article 26(3)). Objections to a hold go to the police unit that designated the original warning account the funds were traced from, with the exchange assisting when necessary (Article 51). Useful material includes the transaction history, the source of the deposit in question, and the chat or contract showing what it paid for.
If the police refuse, the fight moves to administrative court. On September 17, 2026, the Supreme Administrative Court upheld a lower-court view in a company's bank warning-account case: when a request to the police to lift a warning is refused, the account holder can file an administrative appeal, a revocation suit, or a general performance suit (114 Shang No. 388). A suit to bar future warnings in advance lacked the required need for protection.
Assets of a victim still sitting in a warning account may be returned to that victim once the police send a written notice, with a copy to the account holder (Article 64). Where the exchange sees a likely trading dispute or a complicated case, that return procedure does not apply and the matter goes to the courts (Article 69).
If you are the one under suspicion
Article 22 of the Money Laundering Control Act bars handing an exchange account to someone else to use, unless it fits ordinary business practice, trust between relatives or friends, or another legitimate reason. Doing it for promised or received payment, or with three or more accounts in total, can mean up to three years' imprisonment, among other penalties. A warning designation is an investigative step, not a finding of guilt. Anyone under investigation is presumed innocent, and a first-instance judgment can be appealed.
Whether the exchange itself was allowed to serve you is a separate check, covered in When a Taiwan Crypto Platform Blocks Your Withdrawal. Frozen bank accounts are discussed in When a Taiwan bank account is listed as a warning account.
What a Taiwan lawyer can take on
A lawyer in Taiwan can obtain and read the exchange's notice and the police document, confirm whether you face an Article 8 control, a warning designation or a hold, and file an explanation and a request to lift it with the police unit involved. The same lawyer can demand withdrawal or return from the exchange under its terms, preserve evidence, and attend a police interview with you. You can reach Attorney Wei Tseng (曾雋崴) of Hovering International Law Firm, an English-speaking lawyer in Taipei, at wei@hoveringlaw.com.tw. The firm's offices are at 7F-2, No. 35, Sec. 1, Chengde Rd., Datong Dist., Taipei City 103 (103 臺北市大同區承德路一段35號7樓之2) and 6F-1, No. 19, Guanqian Rd., North Dist., Taichung City 40453 (40453 臺中市北區館前路19號6樓之1). If you have already left Taiwan, the contacts stay the same: for a control on police instructions, the exchange and the police unit that gave the instruction (Article 26(3)); for a hold, the police unit that designated the original warning account (Article 51).
Official sources
Checked: October 22, 2026
- Fraud Crime Hazard Prevention Act (詐欺犯罪危害防制條例), Articles 8, 9 and 12 (as amended January 21, 2026); official English text at law.moj.gov.tw/ENG.
- Regulations Governing Fraud Crime Hazard Prevention by Financial Institutions and Businesses or Personnel Providing Virtual Asset Services (金融機構及提供虛擬資產服務之事業或人員防制詐欺犯罪危害應遵循事項辦法), Articles 12, 25, 26, 45, 48, 51, 64, 66 and 69 (amended July 20, 2026).
- Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法), Article 22.
- Immigration Act (入出國及移民法), Article 31.
- Judicial Yuan judgment database: Supreme Administrative Court, 114 Shang No. 388 (September 17, 2026; bank warning-account case; appeal dismissed).
Frequently Asked Questions
- My Taiwan exchange froze my withdrawals and cited 'regulations.' How long can that last?
- If the exchange reported the account to the police, the police are to notify it in an official document within 20 days whether to continue or lift the control; if no notice arrives, the exchange may keep the control in place (Regulations Article 26(1)). If only a specific amount was held after another bank or exchange reported scam proceeds, the hold is released unless police designate the account as a warning account within 48 hours (Article 48).
- Can I sue the exchange for the price drop while my account was frozen?
- It is difficult. Article 12(2) of the Fraud Crime Hazard Prevention Act exempts exchanges from compensation for damage caused by fraud-prevention measures under the Act or by cooperating with the police. If the freeze was such a measure, the practical claims are release of the control and withdrawal or return of assets under the terms of service.
- My residence certificate was cancelled when my job ended. Does that alone freeze my account?
- It can make the account one the exchange may treat as suspicious. Item 9 of Regulations Article 12 covers a foreigner whose residence certificate used at account opening was cancelled before expiry, who has overstayed, or who was reported missing. Whether to impose controls is the exchange's decision under Article 8(1) of the Act.
This article provides general information and is not legal advice on any individual matter.
