Thailand’s cybercrime problem persists despite efforts

[webfact]

 

Thailand’s digital economy and society (DES) minister, Prasert Jantararuangthong, revealed that despite efforts to curb cybercrime, the problem remains rampant with damages averaging 100 million baht daily.

 

The Anti-Online Scam Operation Centre (AOC), set up to address this issue, is yet to see a decline in the number of cases. The ongoing scams are attributed to the scammers’ increasingly sophisticated strategies and the lack of seamless integration among all relevant agencies working to reduce online crime.

 

A telecom industry source disclosed that a crucial issue is the full-circuit connection, where Thai telecom operators install underground cables near border areas and expand into neighbouring countries through cooperative agreements with local companies.

This infrastructure is intended to lower telecom costs for clients but is being exploited by scammers to make calls to phone numbers in Thailand.

In response, state authorities have implemented measures such as suppressing mule accounts and mule SIM cards. They have also introduced the removal of illegal telecom towers, internet cable and telephone lines along border areas.

 

The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) requested people with more than 100 SIM cards to re-register them and verify their identities by February 14 this year, leading to the deactivation of over 800,000 mule SIM cards.

 

Google Thailand

 

Further efforts include Google Thailand partnering with the DES Ministry to launch initiatives to keep Thais safe online. An enhanced Google Play Protect feature safeguards Android mobile phone users against scams and financial fraud, blocking the installation of potentially risky sideloaded apps.

 

Prasert held a meeting on April 9 with related authorities to deal with call centre gangs, aiming to suppress all forms of online crime. The state agencies also asked the Office of the Consumer Protection Board to revise rules related to cash on delivery to prevent scams from the sale of online products. Progress on this revision is expected by May.

 

According to the Royal Thai Police, there were 461,044 cybercrime cases from March 1, 2022, to March 15 this year, resulting in damage of 63.6 billion baht. The scam with the highest amount of damages was tricking people into making an online investment, with 37,829 cases and damage of 20.7 billion baht.

 

In the 2023 Asia Fraud Annual Report by Whoscall, an app that identifies unknown callers and prevents smartphone scams, scam attempts in Thailand increased by 12.2 million from 2022. The report found Thailand is the biggest target for SMS scams in Asia, receiving 58 million suspicious messages throughout the year.

 

The report warned about scammers’ tactics, including impersonating delivery services to defraud the public, reported Bangkok Post.

 

It also revealed that 4.5% of messages contained suspicious links, with the three most common messages featuring fake log-in requests (27%), prompts to download malicious software (20%) and links to fake one-page shopping sites (8%).

 

by Puntid Tantivangphaisal

Photo courtesy of Bangkok Post

 

Source: The Thaiger 2024-04-11

 

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[spidermike007]

Well perhaps they should also be spending some money on a budget to educate people about online scams. Never click a suspicious link, never give your login credentials for any account to a stranger, and always verify a claim, or a company with a secondary source. 

 

Just today I got something telling me that a package couldn't be delivered, click on this link, and I ignored it, as usual. I guess a lot of people don't have the wisdom, or the discriminative facilities to do that. 

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand’s digital economy and society (DES) minister, Prasert Jantararuangthong, revealed that despite efforts to curb cybercrime, the problem remains rampant with damages averaging 100 million baht daily

Useless people.

[mrfill]

"Efforts" - presumably a vinyl sign has been produced.

 

That'll fix it...

[NativeBob]

Suddenly CAT went belly-up

[Rampant Rabbit]

On 4/11/2024 at 1:35 PM, spidermike007 said:

Well perhaps they should also be spending some money on a budget to educate people about online scams. Never click a suspicious link, never give your login credentials for any account to a stranger, and always verify a claim, or a company with a secondary source. 

 

Just today I got something telling me that a package couldn't be delivered, click on this link, and I ignored it, as usual. I guess a lot of people don't have the wisdom, or the discriminative facilities to do that. 

I almost got caught on a recent scam, there are many ways they scam , had a compliant with Gulf  Air, sent them an email, they send you an SR (service request number and say wait) 4  months an no answer so went to their facebook page and asked them there and like many others who had no reply they ask for the SR  number. I gave them the number and they said they will check.

The scam works as scammers go to the facebook page, see your sr number and then send you an e mail saying "complaint gulf air@ gmail.com" the email address  just shows as "complaint @gulfair" Gulfair would notn use a gmail acc but they hide that in the reply heading.

They then apologise and  offer you a 30% reduction in tickets and  to go  tell them what dates you want to  book for. You reply  to the email with dates, they send you back a proper ticket BUT when you check the code online it says "flight not  found"

Of  course they ask you to pay by either credit  card , paypal of another way. Then when you go to that payment it says credit card not working erroro401... use another way ie paypal as its as  good  as  cash. I didnt pay after checking flight number and rechecking their email address.

The scam works because Gulf Air rarely  answer e mails and people look for other ways to contact them like I did thru their facebook page thus revealing the real SR  number for scammers to use back to you.