Prasert proposes tougher cybercrime penalties, shared responsibility

Digital Economy and Society (DES) Minister Prasert Chanthararuangthong said on Thursday that he will seek Cabinet approval next week for a draft amendment to the executive decree on cybercrimes. 

The amendment aims to increase prison sentences for offenders and place shared responsibility on banks and mobile network operators. 

Prasert explained that the draft amendment to the 2023 executive decree on cybercrime prevention and suppression was being reviewed by the Council of State. The review should be completed within this week and submitted to the Cabinet for approval on January 7. 

The amendment seeks to increase the imprisonment period for individuals convicted of buying and selling personal information that causes significant economic harm, raising the sentence from one year to five years. 

In addition, the amendment would also require commercial banks and mobile network operators to share responsibility for the financial losses incurred by clients who are tricked by call centre gangs into transferring money, he said. However, Prasert did not provide details on how this shared responsibility would work. 

He only said that if the amendment gets a Cabinet nod, it will go into effect later this month. 

To prevent money laundering through new businesses, Prasert also revealed that the Business Development Department has connected its online database to the Anti-Money Laundering Office.

Prasert said the department will now block blacklisted individuals from registering new businesses unless they can provide strong evidence to disprove the suspicions. 

Additionally, he said, the DES Ministry will hold a meeting with mobile network operators to prevent their SIM cards from being exploited by call-centre gangs. This follows a police operation on December 20, when Huay Kwang police seized 300,000 SIM cards from a call-centre gang.