Thailand battles rising scam epidemic, 79 million fraud calls logged in 2023
The number of fraudulent offers via phone calls and SMSs has been rising, with as many as 79 million scam calls being recorded in 2023 alone.
Citing information for call identification service provider Whoscall, Dr Pongthep Wongwatcharapaiboon from the Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth) said 2023 recorded the highest number of scam calls.
“On average, 20.3 fraud messages were received by nearly every Thai person last year, marking an 18% increase compared to 2022,” he said. After Thailand, fraudulent calls are high in the Philippines and Hong Kong.
The doctor was speaking at the “Cheapfakes to Deepfakes” event on Tuesday, hosted by ThaiHealth, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, and Cofact, a fact-checking advocacy organisation.
Pongthep said the event, held on Tuesday at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, aimed to raise awareness about misinformation and fraud and give people the ability to identify fake information or internet fraud on their own.
“Everyone can be a fact-checker,” he said.
Supinya Klandnarong, the co-founder of CoFact, said police had received more than 400,000 complaints related to scams from March 1, 2022, to March 15 this year.
The complaints were mostly related to sales rip-offs and fake jobs and loan offers, she said. The media rights advocate also said that CoFact has joined forces with governmental bodies and institutions like the Burapha University to impart fact-checking knowledge to social media influencers to protect people from being deceived by scams.
The government had also stepped up to combat scams by setting up the Anti-Online Scam Operation Centre and the AOC 1441 hotline.
The Digital Economy and Society Ministry had earlier reported that more than 96,300 bank accounts have been frozen for fraudulent activities in response to 504,917 complaints filed via AOC 1441.
Recently, scammers have been impersonating AOC officials and conning people through fake social media accounts set up in the centre’s name, prompting the ministry to issue warnings that the agency can only be reached through the 1441 24-hour hotline and has no online presence.
