Another Thaksin Business, A I S, Under Scrutiny

[sriracha john]

Alarm over AIS 'bonus' of Bt80 billion

Questions raised as to why TOT cut revenue repayment of Shin's cash-cow

Temasek Holdings of Singapore will suffer a further setback to its inroads here if the Assets Examination Committee takes on leading cellular firm Advanced Info Service Plc (AIS) for allegedly benefiting from policy corruption by the state-owned TOT Plc that could cost Thailand more than Bt80 billion.

Korn Chatikavanij, deputy secretary-general of the Democrat Party, and Chienchuang Kalayanamit, executive director of Stern Stewart (Thailand) Co, have separately assessed the loss to TOT which it would sustain through to 2015 when the concession to AIS ends.

AIS is the money-spinner in the Shin Group, founded by ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his family.

On Tuesday, Chienchuang submitted a statement to Kaewsan Atibodhi, secretary of the Assets Examination Committee (AEC), asking for a full investigation into the AIS concession, as revised under the Thaksin government. The appeal claimed that the relaxed payment terms would cost TOT more than Bt80 billion in lost revenue.

Korn called for the AEC to focus on the benefits that companies related to those in power in the previous government enjoyed as a result of policy corruption. In an article written for The Nation, Korn said AIS negotiated a change in its revenue-sharing arrangement with TOT that gave it big profits at TOT's expense.

He said the revised revenue-sharing formula allows AIS to continue to pay TOT a flat rate of 20 per cent of revenue from pre-paid mobile phone services for the rest of its concession, instead of later being forced to pay 25 per cent and finally 30 per cent.

"It was never known why TOT deemed it necessary or beneficial to favour AIS in this regard. What is known, however, is that, to date, it has resulted in a revenue loss to TOT of around Bt13 billion," he said.

"Future losses are even worse as the revenue-sharing was due to go up to 30 per cent on October 25. A conservative estimate indicates that future revenue loss to the end of the concession will be Bt70.5 billion."

While it is hard to predict the outcome of the AEC probe into TOT's reduction of the prepaid phone concession fee for AIS, an analyst at a foreign brokerage expects the development to cloud AIS's stock.

The analyst estimates the reduction in the concession fee for AIS is worth Bt5.8 billion to Bt6 billion per year for next year and 2008.

AIS is also expected to enjoy cost savings of Bt14.5 billion from 2001 through to this year, while the total loss in revenue to TOT from 2001 to the concession's end is Bt70 billion, according to the analyst's calculations.

AIS yesterday dropped to Bt91 from Bt93.50 on Tuesday.

Temasek is facing a potential double whammy from its Bt140-billion takeover of Shin Corp early this year. Police are investigating whether it relied on nominees to acquire Shin Corp in violation of the foreign business law.

Temasek now controls 96 per cent of Shin through Cedar Holdings and Aspen Holdings. However, if found guilty, it would be ordered by the court to reduce its stake in Shin to 49 per cent.

Even worse, the value of Shin's subsidiaries could plunge as they run into legal tangles, making it highly likely that Temasek will swallow more losses. iTV, a Shin subsidiary, is being sued by the state for about Bt90 billion in damages incurred from its programming changes. AIS, Shin's cash cow, might also have to take a similar hit.

What the authorities can do now is change the revenue-sharing formula between AIS and TOT back to the original agreement in order to prevent further shortfalls at TOT, Korn said.

The deficits already suffered by TOT could be recovered by ordering the Shinawatra clan to pay back the Bt17 billion, or ordering AIS to fork up, he said.

The story of AIS and TOT began in 2000 when the second largest cellular operator, Total Access Communication (DTAC), which holds a cellular concession from CAT Telecom Plc, asked TOT to change the access charge on its prepaid phone revenue to 18 per cent per month from Bt200 per user.

The access charge is what all holders of CAT cellular concessions, including DTAC and True Move, have paid to TOT for accessing other networks via TOT's facilities.

Shortly after that, AIS asked TOT to change its revenue-sharing formula for prepaid revenue to a flat rate of 20 per cent per month throughout the remaining concession period.

Under the original 25-year cellular concession accorded by TOT in 1990, AIS had to share its prepaid revenue with TOT in steps, starting at 20 per cent, then moving to 25 per cent and later 30 per cent.

TOT decided to grant the requests of DTAC and AIS in April 2001.

- The Nation

[sting01]

Alarm over AIS 'bonus' of Bt80 billion

Questions raised as to why TOT cut revenue repayment of Shin's cash-cow

.......

The story of AIS and TOT began in 2000 when the second largest cellular operator, Total Access Communication (DTAC), which holds a cellular concession from CAT Telecom Plc, asked TOT to change the access charge on its prepaid phone revenue to 18 per cent per month from Bt200 per user.

The access charge is what all holders of CAT cellular concessions, including DTAC and True Move, have paid to TOT for accessing other networks via TOT's facilities.

Shortly after that, AIS asked TOT to change its revenue-sharing formula for prepaid revenue to a flat rate of 20 per cent per month throughout the remaining concession period.

Under the original 25-year cellular concession accorded by TOT in 1990, AIS had to share its prepaid revenue with TOT in steps, starting at 20 per cent, then moving to 25 per cent and later 30 per cent.

TOT decided to grant the requests of DTAC and AIS in April 2001.

- The Nation

Does DTAC finally pay 18 per cent? If yes, why AIS can not negociate to pay a somehow equivalent amount (20%)?

The whole story is well know, but I do not know about that detail ... Detail that can be very important : If DTAC was denied but AIS was given a new sharing price, obviously there is problem. If both get a new sharing price, obviously there is no problem.

[Old Man River]

Alarm over AIS 'bonus' of Bt80 billion

Questions raised as to why TOT cut revenue repayment of Shin's cash-cow

.......

The story of AIS and TOT began in 2000 when the second largest cellular operator, Total Access Communication (DTAC), which holds a cellular concession from CAT Telecom Plc, asked TOT to change the access charge on its prepaid phone revenue to 18 per cent per month from Bt200 per user.

The access charge is what all holders of CAT cellular concessions, including DTAC and True Move, have paid to TOT for accessing other networks via TOT's facilities.

Shortly after that, AIS asked TOT to change its revenue-sharing formula for prepaid revenue to a flat rate of 20 per cent per month throughout the remaining concession period.

Under the original 25-year cellular concession accorded by TOT in 1990, AIS had to share its prepaid revenue with TOT in steps, starting at 20 per cent, then moving to 25 per cent and later 30 per cent.

TOT decided to grant the requests of DTAC and AIS in April 2001.

- The Nation

Does DTAC finally pay 18 per cent? If yes, why AIS can not negociate to pay a somehow equivalent amount (20%)?

The whole story is well know, but I do not know about that detail ... Detail that can be very important : If DTAC was denied but AIS was given a new sharing price, obviously there is problem. If both get a new sharing price, obviously there is no problem.

Khun Korn gives an excellent analysis on this in this morning's Nation (It is near where the editorials normally are). Still details not disclosed, but includes a lot of interesting info.

[Plus]

Dtac has a contract with CAT, which in turn has a contract with TOT. AIS has a TOT contract directly, that's where the differences come from.

If Dtac gets a better deal from CAT it's no reason for TOT to give better terms to AIS and lose 80 bil in the process.

[sriracha john]

True & DTAC file complaint against AIS

Mobile phone service operators True Corp. Plc and Total Access Communication Plc, Thursday said they have filed a complaint against market leader Advanced Info Service Plc with the National Telecommunications Commission.

Executives of Total Access Communication Plc and True Corp. Plc told a joint press conference that they sent a letter Thursday to the NTC asking for disciplinary action in response to alleged unfair and discriminatory business practices of AIS, including price dumping and limiting portability of telephone numbers between service providers.

A copy of the letter was also sent to Information & Communications Technology Minister Sitthichai Phokai-udom, they added.

The uneven playing field is against free and fair competition, Sigve Brekke, chief executive of Singapore-listed Total Access Communication said.

The two firms also complained in the letter that state-owned TOT Plc, the former Telephone Organization of Thailand, still charges True and Total Access for use of its landline network but it has waived charges for AIS.

- The Nation

[sting01]

Dtac has a contract with CAT, which in turn has a contract with TOT. AIS has a TOT contract directly, that's where the differences come from.

If Dtac gets a better deal from CAT it's no reason for TOT to give better terms to AIS and lose 80 bil in the process.

Well, I do hope you do not have a firm.

DTAC have a contract with CAT which in turn has a contract with TOT (DTAC paying 18 % of sharing money to CTA).

I am a DTAC compettitor but I do not use internediary and have a contract with TOT directly. By so, in a capitalism system I have simply have a cut on the spending and have to have at least the same as my concurrent (or 18 % or eventually in this case to avoid suspision the same as CAT). It's market economy, it's capitalism, and noone care if TOT loose or not money.

So the very lecture of the number given mean exactly the opposite of what they intend to do : stating AIS is a corrupt company using corrution and political pressure to earn money. Those number show only a normal (I stress out the word normal, because a top level CEO would have paid the very same as the competitor : 18 %) gestion.

On the other hand, I am not saying it was no coruption. I am simply saying those number show nothing.

[sriracha john]

DTAC and True ally against AIS

Allegations fly over 'special treatment'

The heads of DTAC and True have called on telecom regulators to end what they called a decade of discrimination in favour of mobile leader Advanced Info Service. Sigve Brekke, DTAC's chief executive, and Supachai Chearavanont, the CEO of True, both claimed that the playing field had been distorted as AIS enjoys lower revenue-sharing costs than its competitors. Access charges were also unfairly assessed to the disadvantage of DTAC and True Move, the two claimed. DTAC and True both operate under concessions with CAT Telecom, and are forced to pay a monthly access charge to TOT Corp for every mobile number to use fixed-line networks. AIS, which operates under a concession from TOT, does not have to pay an access charge, and pays a revenue-sharing charge of 20% for the life of its concession through 2015, compared with 20% to 30% for DTAC and True. Both DTAC and True yesterday petitioned the ICT Ministry and the NTC to make revenue sharing and access charge agreements equal. The two operators also called for regulators to investigate the practice of price dumping by AIS, and approve number portability nationwide to help spur industry growth. Both DTAC and True threatened to take legal action if their grievances were not addressed. The decision by TOT to cut AIS's revenue-sharing agreement in 2001 to just 20% from a previous progressive rate structure ranging from 20% to 30% had already cost TOT and the state huge revenues, he said. ''The adjusted rate has caused TOT so far to lose revenues of more than 10 billion baht, and it could be as high as 100 billion baht throughout the life of the concession,'' Mr Supachai said. ''It's time that the new government create transparent competition in the industry, where the era for operators who have certain advantages in concession conditions should be ended.'' The government is investigating whether the last government illegally enacted policies to benefit AIS and other Shin companies. Deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra founded the company.

Continued here:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/Business/10Nov2006_biz34.php

Edited November 10, 2006 by sriracha john

[Plus]

DTAC have a contract with CAT which in turn has a contract with TOT (DTAC paying 18 % of sharing money to CTA).

I am a DTAC compettitor but I do not use internediary and have a contract with TOT directly. By so, in a capitalism system I have simply have a cut on the spending and have to have at least the same as my concurrent (or 18 % or eventually in this case to avoid suspision the same as CAT). It's market economy, it's capitalism, and noone care if TOT loose or not money.

Except TOT shareholders, of course!!! Which happens to be the Finance Ministry and ultimately Thai taxpayers. They have a perfect reason to suspect that Thaksin infulenced TOT-AIS negotiations in favour of his own company.

CAT is not simply an intermediary, it's actually TOT competitor. All it has to pay to TOT is access to TOT network charge. It used to be 200 baht per month per SIM, but they renegotiated it for Pre-paid services as 18% or revenue. Post paid customers still pay 200 per month.

AIS cannot demand the same treatment, i.e. negotiate access charge, as it doesn't pay any at all. They renegotiated the whole concession terms.

[womble]

Yeah and people think Thaksin built his wealth by being clever.......

There is nothing clever about bribing peopel to win concessions and better terms in those concessions.

Thaksin is an out and out crook. The only reason any of his companys have suceeded is through connections and bribery and most of those connections were made by the wife and her family.

[sting01]

DTAC have a contract with CAT which in turn has a contract with TOT (DTAC paying 18 % of sharing money to CTA).

I am a DTAC compettitor but I do not use internediary and have a contract with TOT directly. By so, in a capitalism system I have simply have a cut on the spending and have to have at least the same as my concurrent (or 18 % or eventually in this case to avoid suspision the same as CAT). It's market economy, it's capitalism, and noone care if TOT loose or not money.

Except TOT shareholders, of course!!! Which happens to be the Finance Ministry and ultimately Thai taxpayers. They have a perfect reason to suspect that Thaksin infulenced TOT-AIS negotiations in favour of his own company.

CAT is not simply an intermediary, it's actually TOT competitor. All it has to pay to TOT is access to TOT network charge. It used to be 200 baht per month per SIM, but they renegotiated it for Pre-paid services as 18% or revenue. Post paid customers still pay 200 per month.

AIS cannot demand the same treatment, i.e. negotiate access charge, as it doesn't pay any at all. They renegotiated the whole concession terms.

The point made was not CAT to TOT, but DTAC to CAT to TOT copared to AIS to TOT.

Anyway, my argumantation is certainly pointless

[ratcatcher]

Yeah and people think Thaksin built his wealth by being clever.......

There is nothing clever about bribing peopel to win concessions and better terms in those concessions.

Thaksin is an out and out crook. The only reason any of his companys have suceeded is through connections and bribery and most of those connections were made by the wife and her family.

"You people are evil. You call me a crook and corrupt. I am all alone here in The Middle of The Earth,, please won't someone give me a RING?"

.

You are looking at the once powerful Lord of The Ringtones

[womble]

Yeah and people think Thaksin built his wealth by being clever.......

There is nothing clever about bribing peopel to win concessions and better terms in those concessions.

Thaksin is an out and out crook. The only reason any of his companys have suceeded is through connections and bribery and most of those connections were made by the wife and her family.

"You people are evil. You call me a crook and corrupt. I am all alone here in The Middle of The Earth,, please won't someone give me a RING?"

.

You are looking at the once powerful Lord of The Ringtones

[Buckwheat]

Yeah and people think Thaksin built his wealth by being clever.......

There is nothing clever about bribing peopel to win concessions and better terms in those concessions.

Thaksin is an out and out crook. The only reason any of his companys have suceeded is through connections and bribery and most of those connections were made by the wife and her family.

"You people are evil. You call me a crook and corrupt. I am all alone here in The Middle of The Earth,, please won't someone give me a RING?"

.

You are looking at the once powerful Lord of The Ringtones

Brilliant!!!!

[Tony Clifton]

Yeah and people think Thaksin built his wealth by being clever.......

There is nothing clever about bribing peopel to win concessions and better terms in those concessions.

Thaksin is an out and out crook. The only reason any of his companys have suceeded is through connections and bribery and most of those connections were made by the wife and her family.

"You people are evil. You call me a crook and corrupt. I am all alone here in The Middle of The Earth,, please won't someone give me a RING?"

.

You are looking at the once powerful Lord of The Ringtones

Eeeexcellent

[sriracha john]

Ditto!

[sriracha john]

UPDATE

Thailand to end 'double standard' in mobile phone fees

BANGKOK - Thailand is to overhaul fees paid by mobile phone companies, taking away advantages given to market leader AIS by the government of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Advance Info Service is owned by Shin Corp, the telecom giant founded by Thaksin, which his family sold to Singapore's Temasek Holdings earlier this year in a politically explosive deal that precipitated the coup against him.

"We are looking to overhaul excise tax, access and interconnection charges and other fees which have created a 'double standard' in treatment in the mobile phone business," Finance Minister Pridiyathorn Devakula said.

"Overhauling the existing system is very difficult because the existing contracts with operators are so complicated and complex," he told reporters.

"The adjustment will be completed before December," he added.

Disparities in the fees paid by mobile phone operators came to light after two companies -- True Move and DTAC -- last week signed a deal that would see them pay fixed-line operators interconnection fees based on traffic rather than costly monthly access charges.

Before the deal, AIS had not paid monthly fees because it had an exclusive concession with TOT, the privatized state telecom.

The deal with True Move and DTAC is likely to cause a sharp drop in revenues for TOT and its rival CAT Telecom.

"The revamp is aimed at giving fair treatment to all operators while maintaining the revenues of both CAT and TOT. After the adjustment, none of the players will lose their existing concessions," Pridiyarthorn said.

The move to eliminate advantages enjoyed by AIS came amid a series of investigations into the sale of Shin Corp to Temasek.

Police are examining a commerce ministry report that found the deal violated ownership laws that limits foreign firms to holding 49 percent of telecoms.

Thaksin's family earned 1.9 billion dollars tax-free from the sale and other investigators are looking into whether they should face a tax bill on the proceeds.

- AFP

[sriracha john]

Telecoms in for new probe

The Assets Examination Committee (AEC) will decide next Wednesday whether to investigate the "unfair" excise-duty treatment given to private telecoms.

Representatives from the labour unions of TOT and CAT Telecom filed a joint complaint with the AEC yesterday against the amendment to the Excise Tax Act of 2003 by the government of Thaksin Shinawatra.

The change allowed private telecoms on state concessions to deduct their excise payments from their revenue-sharing payments to TOT and CAT, leaving the two state enterprises with reduced incomes.

AEC spokesman Sak Korsaengruang said the committee had appointed its member Banjerd Singkaneti to scrutinise the legal merits of the complaint and forward his findings by Wednesday.

The AEC also appointed Kaewsan Atibodhi and Amnuay Thantara to find more information about the procurement of fire-fighting equipment by the Interior Ministry.

Sak said AEC chairman Nam Yimyaem had also questioned 11 AEC members over reports that some panel members had met associates of Thaksin at a Japanese restaurant to accept bribes for not prosecuting him. All 11 denied that they had done so.

The Nation

[sriracha john]

Investigators face tough decision

Thaksin's policy corruption in the telecom sector is typical of the country's conflict-of-interest disease

The post-coup clampdown on Thaksin Shinawatra may finally be zeroing in on probably the most contentious "policy corruption" case of his regime.

If the graft investigators agree to start looking into the 2003 executive decree on the conversion of telecom concessions, as demanded by state-enterprise labour activists, it will mean a venture into unfamiliar territory.

This was a world of vested interests and related government acts that, on the surface, looked perfectly all right, but underneath carried enormous business implications.

This telecom affair symbolises everything that was morally and ethically wrong with the ousted administration. Many believe it could have been one of the main reasons why Thaksin entered politics in the first place.

Thailand's plan to liberalise the telecom sector, under its commitments to the World Trade Organisation, warranted the conversion of existing telecom concessions at that time. It required the concessionaires, including Thaksin's telecom empire, which had obligations to pay the government an estimated Bt300 billion, to face a new formula of payment - one that had to be fair to them, the state and consumers.

Superficially, excise tax on the concessions seemed a good alternative, but the measure, and the way it was introduced, sparked controversy and questions about whether the state and consumers were robbed blind in a politically shrewd scheme.

First of all, the excise tax was implemented through an executive decree. Side-stepping Parliament was a trademark of the Thaksin government.

Uproar over the decision to enforce the conversion through executive decree prompted calls for the Constitution Court to determine if it was a constitutionally justified move. This only led to another major controversy. Eight Constitution Court judges, forming a majority bloc, let the government off the hook. The court's 8-6 vote to endorse the excise decree recalled its 8-7 decision to acquit Thaksin of asset-concealment charges in 2001 - thus allowing him to narrowly escape a five-year ban from politics. Shrugging off doubts over its integrity and independence, the court decided that the executive decree was relevant to the national economy, thus fitting the constitutional requirement that executive decrees must be issued under emergency situations in order to safeguard national security, public safety or economic stability.

Why the public questioned the decree was simple. The most basic of ethical questions were being asked: should a government led by a telecom patriarch take a short cut to decide what was tantamount to a Bt100-billion telecom issue?

Should the same government ignore Parliament when the administration was about to take crucial legal steps that could determine who would dominate the market after the lucrative sector was liberalised?

And if the issue was so important, as claimed by Thaksin, why didn't it wait for the establishment of the National Telecom Commission, which would be constitutionally empowered to make rulings regarding liberalisation of the industry?

Constitutional aspects were not as troubling as consumer-related questions. The excise tax, critics said, was tantamount to throwing the burden straight to consumers. It was a big shift in philosophy, because the original idea was to make the concessionaires pay a fixed, albeit progressive, sum regardless of how well their businesses were doing.

There was also the question of whether the whole tax scheme was fair to potential newcomers to the market and whether it would truly create a competitive environment that would benefit consumers.

How much the state lost and Thaksin's telecom empire won from the decree is anybody's guess.

Shin Corp could have claimed that their huge leaps in profit thereafter were the result of shrewd business strategies; investigating its balance sheets wouldn't yield any clue to wrongdoing.

Scrutinising government coffers wouldn't tell the whole story. And to determine how much consumers could have been taken advantage of would have been impossible.

The Assets Examination Committee may decide next month whether to accept the state-enterprise labour activists' petition and launch a probe. It is not an easy decision to make, but more difficulties lie ahead if the investigators choose to give it a shot. But this is the challenge they face.

Thailand has arrived at this precarious point because it has ignored or tried to avoid blurry ethical issues like this. The country won't be able to really move forward unless the ghost of conflicts of interest is exorcised.

- The Nation

EDITORIAL

[sriracha john]

The scalpers get scalped...

Alleged hacker arrested for causing 50 million worth of damages to AIS

Police have arrested a man for allegedly hacked into the computer system of AIS to make up false refill airtime cards for sale.

Police announced the arrest of Thaweesup Lalitsiwimol, 34, at a press conference at the Crime Suppression Division on Tuesday.

Thaweesup allegedly hacked into the computer network of AIS and added more refilling cards' serial numbers and passwords and later sold the cards on Internet.

He also allowed the fake refill cards to have ten times value than ordinary cards, police said. For example, an airtime refill card with value of Bt100 would be able to use for Bt1,000.

Police said the use of airtime by the fake refill card data caused damages worth about Bt50 million to AIS during the past three months.

- The Nation

Edited May 15, 2007 by sriracha john

[astral]

Alarm over AIS 'bonus' of Bt80 billion

This makes the 50m lost to the hacker look like small beer.

[sriracha john]

Indeed, it's coincidental the hacker arrests occurs on the same the day as their earnings are released:

"Thailand’s largest mobile operator by subscribers, Advanced Info Services (AIS), recorded net income of THB3.984 billion on revenues of THB23.498 billion in the first three months of 2007."

[sriracha john]

Apparently, AIS wasn't the only telecom he was hacking with the amount doubling to 100 million baht...

Hacker accused of milking AIS and True for millions

Police describe university graduate as having 'dazzling' computer skills

A Thai man whose previous hacking crime earned him an entry in a book on the world's wittiest thefts has been accused of causing damage totalling more than Bt100 million to two local telecom firms.

Advanced Info Service Plc (AIS) lodged a complaint with police last month that it suffered losses of Bt8 million after an unidentified hacker got into its computer system and manipulated airtime allowances granted to AIS pre-paid cellphone users.

Two years ago, True Corp Plc, which operates Orange cellphone services, lost more than Bt105 million in a similar sting.

Police investigations have pinpointed the same hacker: Taweesap Lalitsasiwimon, 34, who is also known as Phumipat.

At the time he allegedly broke into AIS's system, Taweesap was on bail pending a review by public prosecutors on his alleged hacking into the Orange network.

The suspect, a graduate from Ramkhamhaeng University's Faculty of Political Science, denied any wrongdoing. "After his graduation, he had no permanent job," Crime Suppression Division deputy commander Colonel Kowit Wongrungroj said yesterday.

Armed with an arrest warrant, the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) yesterday raided Taweesap's apartment. He was found to have two computer notebooks, hard disks, three cellphones, phone cards, bank passbooks, ATM cards, SIM cards and a book titled "Plon Yiab Mek" - a compilation of the world's wittiest thefts, including Taweesap's hacking into the Orange network.

The book was a Thai translation of an English edition. Other crimes featured in this book included a 2005 bank robbery in Brazil, in which robbers dug a 200-metre tunnel into the bank and made off with a huge amount of cash.

Taweesap faces charges of faking documents and using those documents in the AIS case.

Kowit said Taweesap had dazzling computer skills and managed to hack into the telecom giant's network in less than 10 minutes.

"Other telecom operators can come forward if they have faced problems likely to have been caused by this suspect," the police colonel said.

Pol Lt Col Wiwat Kamcham-narn, a deputy superintendent at the CSD and chief investigator for the AIS case, said his team had traced Taweesap after locating the owner of a SIM card suspected of earning airtime allowances through manipulation.

"The owner bought the SIM card from Taweesap," Wiwat said.

He said after getting this clue, his team tried to check Taweesap's IP address.

"At first, it seemed like he had hacked into the system via Internet cafes because he used various SIM cards and Internet connections by many service providers. However, we used advanced technology and finally nailed him," he said.

Wiwat declined to disclose the technology used in the investigation.

According to an informed source, Taweesap and his accomplices broke into the Orange computer network together. But he allegedly operated alone when he hacked into the AIS system.

The source said after Taweesap broke into the AIS system, he illegally modified information on the pre-paid call cards and airtime allowances. For example, an airtime allowance worth Bt100 was changed to Bt1,000. The number of pre-paid call cards was also modified.

Taweesap announced the sale of cheap airtime allowances via pop-up ads on the Internet. Interested customers were asked to transfer money to a bank account before they got passwords for the cheap airtime via SMS.

One computer expert said it was not too difficult for an expert to hack into a network system.

"There are hacking guidelines and even hacking programmes available on the Internet," he said on condition of anonymity. He said he would be able to hack into computer systems too, but he never thought about doing it.

He said system administrators should keep checking their systems to prevent hacking and to improve anti-hacking measures all the time.

- The Nation

[sriracha john]

Accused computer whiz Taweesap Lalitsasiwimol, 34, is taken to the Crime Suppression Division after he was arrested yesterday for allegedly hacking into the AIS database and selling forged prepaid phone cards worth almost 50 million baht.

Bangkok Post

[sriracha john]

B50m in calls on fake prepaid cards

Police have arrested a hacker who altered information in the database of mobile phone company Advanced Info Service (AIS) and then sold forged prepaid phone cards which were used for calls worth an estimated 50 million baht. Taweesap, alias Phumipat, Lalitsasiwimol, 34, was arrested yesterday at Wong Charoen apartments in Soi Lat Phrao 13.

Continued here:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/16May2007_news02.php

[jumnien]

AIS stock has risen from around 75 to 91 in the last few weeks - let's hope it keeps it up!

[sriracha john]

"Whoopsy... we have an ultra-high-tech security system, but we mistook an 8 for 50 when we did our math"

AIS losses only Bt8 million

Mobile phone operator Advanced Info Service (AIS) said losses it incurred at the hands of hacker Taweesap Lalitsasiwimol amounted to eight million baht, not 50 million baht as earlier reported. Police on Tuesday arrested the 34-year-old hacker, who broke into AIS' database and then forged its prepaid phone cards. According to the mobile phone giant's press release, the database hacking was promptly detected by its high-tech security system, enabling it to contain the damage. The quick response enabled police to identify and nail Taweesap, who in 2005 cost TA Orange 105 million baht after he hacked into its database, and increased the values of prepaid phone cards.

Continued here:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/17May2007_news15.php

[Mid]

Bargaining 101 ,

start high if selling ,

easier to go down than up ................................