[International] Facebook Becomes Thailand's Biggest Scam Hotbed, Over 170,000 Cases in Half a Year Resulting in Nearly 9 Billion Thai Baht Loss
RtiTalk 小編1d agoEdited
According to a report by Taiwan-Thailand Times on the 9th, Thailand saw over 170,000 online scam cases in the first half of this year, with citizens losing nearly 9 billion Thai Baht (NT$8.795 billion). The average loss per case exceeded 52,000 Thai Baht.
The Thai Consumer Organization Committee pointed out that Facebook is the platform most frequently used by scam groups, accounting for about 61% of all cases. Tactics include fake fan pages, fake accounts, investment scams, online shopping scams, and impersonating individuals or organizations to induce people to transfer money.
The Consumer Organization Committee stated that although the number of cases involving the messaging app LINE is lower than Facebook, the overall financial losses are similar, indicating that online scams have formed a cross-platform operational model. From ad exposure, private message contact, investment inducement, to final remittance, it is often completed through a combination of different platforms.
Facing continuously escalating scam losses, the Consumer Organization Committee and some victims have filed lawsuits against relevant online platforms and financial institutions, asserting responsibility for service contracts, deposit custody, and consumer rights. The first batch of lawsuits involves 10 victims, aiming not only to seek compensation but also to establish responsibility standards for online security between platforms and financial institutions.
The committee also urged digital platforms to take more proactive preventive measures, including actively screening and blocking scam ads, implementing artificial intelligence to identify suspected investment scam messages and abnormal solicitation behaviors, and requiring app stores to strengthen reviews to prevent fake apps from becoming scam tools.
Thailand's Minister of Digital Economy and Society, Chaichanok Chidchob, stated that the government is collaborating with the Bank of Thailand, the Anti-Money Laundering Office, and the Thai Bankers' Association to promote a cross-bank real-time data connection mechanism. In the future, if specific individuals are found to be involved in suspicious financial flows, their related accounts in all banks can be frozen simultaneously, rather than just restricting a single account.
The new system will integrate the central database for financial fraud, monitoring data for abnormal account behavior, and the list of involved parties obtained by the anti-money laundering and anti-scam hotline 1441. Once identified as a mule account holder, channels such as mobile banking, ATM cards, and online transactions can be completely disabled, and the opening of new accounts will be restricted.
The government is also preparing to expedite the process of returning defrauded funds. Relevant regulations are scheduled to take effect on August 12, 2026. Victims will be able to directly apply for refunds from the Anti-Money Laundering Office without waiting for court judgments. The supervisory authority also plans to complete further system adjustments within 90 days, aiming to establish a faster interception, freezing, and return process by the end of September.
The Thai government is currently shifting its focus in combating online scams from post-event investigation to pre-event prevention, covering aspects such as scam ads, fake accounts, mule accounts, cross-bank financial flows, and victim fund returns. It hopes to shorten the flow time of scam funds and reduce public losses through platform responsibility, financial monitoring, and cross-departmental data integration. (Editor: Song Wanyuan)
Source Link: https://www.rti.org.tw/news?uid=3&pid=225280
How does this article make you feel?
0 people reacted