Fraudulent calls and messages surge by 18% in Thailand in 2023

[webfact]

 

Whoscall, the caller identification application, has reported that fraudulent calls and messages plagued Thailand’s communication channels in 2023, with Thai citizens receiving an alarming 79 million dishonest messages and calls. This figure presents a notable 18% rise from the 66.7 million deceptive calls and messages recorded in 2022.

 

The 2023 statistics were broken down into 20.8 million dubious calls and 58.3 million untrustworthy messages, which respectively marked a 22% and 17% increase from the previous year. The latter figure, 58.3 million messages, placed Thailand at the top of the list of Asian countries most affected by fraudulent SMSs.

 

The report detailed that these high-risk messages often contained malicious links and malware. Interestingly, while Thailand experienced a rise in these deceptive communications, Asia as a whole saw a reduction. The continent recorded 347.3 million fraudulent calls and messages in 2023, showing a 14% decrease from 2022’s 405.3 million.

This decrease marks the second consecutive year that the overall figure has fallen. However, Thailand bucked the trend, registering the highest average number of fraudulent SMSs received per individual in Asia, with each Thai citizen receiving approximately 20.3 deceitful messages.

Thitinan Suttinarapun, Gogolook’s marketing director for Southeast Asia, the company that operates Whoscall, noted that the data demonstrates that Thai people are more susceptible to the risks associated with these deceptive calls and messages than other Asians, reported Bangkok Post.

 

Thitinan reported that fraudsters are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their tactics, often pretending to represent reputable shipping companies or government agencies. She urged Thai citizens to exercise caution and only trust information from reliable sources. To assist in avoiding these scams, Thitinan recommended the use of applications like Whoscall, which are equipped with features designed to identify and prevent fraudulent calls and messages.

 

In related news, the Department of Business Development (DBD) in Thailand issued a warning to businesses, uncovering a new ploy by online scammers that could leave unsuspecting victims in legal jeopardy.

 

DBD Director-General Oramon Sapthaveetham sounded the alarm today, urging businesses to stay vigilant or face the consequences.

 

by Mitch Connor

Top Picture courtesy of Lindsey LaMont, Unsplash

 

Source: The Thaiger 2024-03-28

 

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[flyingtlger]

Thailand is becoming like the US....

 

https://time.com/6513036/robocalls-government-action/

[reefsurfah]

No way to stop this, except to just ignore them📵

[Emdog]

"Thailand experienced a rise in these deceptive communications, Asia as a whole saw a reduction. "

Thailand grabs first in another groundbreaking Hub category

[hotchilli]

6 hours ago, flyingtlger said:

Thailand is becoming like the US....

 

https://time.com/6513036/robocalls-government-action/

Land of scams, but not just Thailand... 

[richard_smith237]

So, it gets to the point that no one answers numbers they don't recognise. 

 

My Folks in the UK will not answer the Landline....  they have wires phones, but of course they need to be on a charging station.

 

So, someone calls, imagine an 80 year old making the effort to getting up then some ayhole is telling them theres a major issue with their bank and starts asking for details - luckily they're fully compos-mentus and ignore...

....  but it happens so often they just don't bother to answer - even though they've registered to have these sorts of calls blocked by the service provider. 

 

 

Well over 50% of the calls I receive over the cell network are 'cold callers' (scam attempt or sales BS)....   anyone I know calls through Line, WhatsApp or FaceTime etc...     

 

Scammers and cold callers are vermin - I really wish more could be done to deal with them. 

 

There is also the issue of wrong numbers - I've had my number for over 15 years, yet I still regularly get 'wrong numbner' but of course the other person never apologises... they just hangup, then call back again 2 mins later....  ...... Going by the response from the idiot on the other 'end' is sometimes my fault for answering the number of the person they were trying to call !!!!....  

 

 

 

 

[khunjeff]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

in 2023, [] Thai citizens receiv[ed] an alarming 79 million dishonest messages and calls. This figure presents a notable 18% rise from the 66.7 million deceptive calls and messages recorded in 2022.

 

Those numbers seem way, way too low. That would mean fewer than two scam calls per phone number per year, and pretty much everyone I know or have read about receives far more than that number per week.

[TigerandDog]

I've installed a call blocker on my smart phone & thus far I've blocked 92 different phone numbers, predominantly with Malaysian country codes. The call blocker has thus far blocked close to 1000 calls from the 92 numbers that I've blocked.

[Caldera]

There's an easy solution, of course. I ignore all incoming calls from numbers that aren't in my contacts. 

[ChaiyaTH]

6 minutes ago, Caldera said:

There's an easy solution, of course. I ignore all incoming calls from numbers that aren't in my contacts. 

Well yes, but that doesn't make it less annoying, and I actually end up not answering calls from people who got my number for business that way too. So I have to check the number on google every time, it's usually known as a Spam call there. 

[AhFarangJa]

On 3/28/2024 at 7:06 AM, reefsurfah said:

No way to stop this, except to just ignore them📵

Yes, I get at least 3 calls a week where I do not know the number. I do not answer them, but block the number. Only down side is that last month My Son called on a friends phone, no name, so I did not answer, and blocked it.....