Asia Scam Report 2023: Thailand highest in Asia for phone scams

Gogolook, the developer of the Whoscall application and trust technology provider (TrustTech), and global anti-scam organization GASA (The Global Anti-Scam Alliance) organized the first-ever Anti-Scam Asia Summit (ASAS) in Taipei, Taiwan.

The event saw the release of a worrying report revealing that most Asians are overconfident in their ability to deal with online scams at a time when scammers have begun using AI technology to make scams more subtle and difficult to spot. Thais are the most likely to be tricked by phone scams in Asia, mostly through Facebook, LINE and e-mail, while over half of people around the continent have to deal with scammers at least once a week.

The Asia Scam Report 2023, published by GASA and Gogolook, reveals that Asia is becoming a key target for criminals who are likely to use AI technology to commit fraud faster and more easily while operating overseas to make them harder to detect and capture. To combat this the ASAS meeting helped exchange information and create regional cooperation between stakeholders to quickly identify and prevent wrongdoing. Members of international law enforcement agencies, security organizations, financial institutions, and businesses across Asia attended the event. 

The Asia Scam Report 2023 report revealed that more than 50% of 20,000 respondents in 11 Asian countries encounter scammers at least once a week, with phone calls and SMS as the main channels that scammers use to reach their victims. People in Thailand are the most likely in Asia to be deceived over the phone (88%), followed by Malaysia (82.7%), Hong Kong (81.3%) and Vietnam (80.2%). Facebook, LINE and e-mail are the most common channels to attack Thai people with online shopping, identity theft and tricking people into investing are the most common types of fraud. 

Pol. Lt. Gen. Thatchai Pitaneelaboot, Assistant Commissioner of the Royal Thai Police, participated in a panel about Private-Public Collaboration: The Possibilities & the Roadblocks. He said, “Online shopping scams are the most common in Thailand but it is scam investments that result in the greatest financial loss to people. Nowadays, scammers target everyone, including well-educated people and business owners, and despite their belief that they can identify scammers they are still deceived. The government places importance on establishing the AOC Center which brings together related agencies in both the public and private sectors as this will accelerate how we solve this problem as well, and Royal Thai Police also provided knowledge about our Cyber Vaccinated project.  We believe there should be a platform that connects different countries to exchange information and help quickly track down and apprehend criminals.”

“Our goal at GASA is to help consumers avoid scams across the globe, and the upcoming Anti-Scam Summit debut in Asia marks another significant step toward this goal,” said GASA Managing Director, Jorij Abraham, The Anti-Scam Asia Summit underscores the escalating emphasis on scam issues in Asia, and we expect the summit to expand in size over time, drawing a growing number of stakeholders from businesses, government agencies, and organizations, thereby fostering increased active participation in the years ahead.”

Jeff Kuo, CEO and co-founder of Gogolook, said, “As the leading TrustTech provider in Asia and the founding member of GASA, Gogolook is honoured to be able to partner with GASA to host the first-ever Anti-Scam Asia Summit (ASAS). For the first time, we have brought together experts from across the region to share insights and best practices in combating these growing threats. As we work on creating a safe digital environment for everyone it is necessary to create three things: knowledge about potential scams (Awareness), cooperation between all related parties (Collaboration) and creating technology for trust (Technology).”