Owners of more than 6 SIM cards face strict verification from July 13
New requirement part of a crackdown on online scams; DES Ministry to also check on 30 million dubious mobile bank accounts
From July 13, individuals owning more than six mobile phone SIM cards will be required to verify their identity with the respective service providers or via online channels, the Digital Economy and Society (DES) Ministry announced on Tuesday.
The move aims to block scammers from using different mobile phone numbers to con people or conduct other illegal activities, DES Minister Prasert Chanthararuangthong said.
He added that this measure was an extension of the ministry’s crackdown on online scams, in which some 106 million mobile bank accounts will be checked to see which ones are being used for defrauding people. The crackdown was launched last month.
Prasert said last week that initial checks showed that the names of some 30 million mobile bank accounts do not match the names of the phone numbers registered.
He said the checking of these suspicious accounts should be completed within 120 days, adding that bank accounts whose names match the registered SIM cards will not experience any service disruption.
The minister added that the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission and Anti-Money Laundering Office will also help out in the checking of the accounts.
In April, the DES Ministry reported that more than 96,300 bank accounts had been frozen due to fraudulent activities in response to 504,917 complaints filed with its Anti-Online Scam Operation Centre after it was launched in November 2023.
