Wednesday marked the day of an essential press conference held at the Royal Thai Police headquarters. In attendance were representatives from pivotal agencies such as the Electronic Transactions Development Agency, the Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the renowned Amata Corporation Plc. Together with the police, they sought to highlight a pressing issue: the rising number of online scammers causing significant financial harm.
The royal Thai police were duly represented by Pol General Sompong Chingduang, special advisor to the national police chief, and the head of the police committee combating technological crimes, alongside Pol Maj-General Chusak Khanadnit, the commander of the High-Tech Crime Division.
Sompong shared concerning figures illustrating the enormity of this issue; from March 1st in the previous year to July 31st in this year, an alarming number of fraud victims—300,000, to be precise—have filed complaints to the police via online channels. Cumulatively, these fraudulent activities resulted in damages amounting to a whopping 41 billion baht. Over 24,000 cases, comprising roughly 8.14% of the total, were identified as investment scams. Unwitting investors lost approximately 12 billion baht to these scams, accruing to 35% of the overall damage during the given period.
Chusak pointed out a troubling trend: Facebook had most frequently served as the platform for these investment scams in May and July of this year. Further data revealed the top five internet portals deployeed by perpetrators:
– Facebook: leading with 145 reported cases and damages of 107.593 million baht.
– Websites: coming second with 34 cases and incurred damages of 8.6 million baht.
– Line: following with 7 cases and damages of 8.15 million baht.
– TikTok and Twitter: each with only one reported case, resulting in damages of 60,000 baht and 7,000 baht, respectively.
Scammers, Chusak explained, sought to establish credibility and ensnare victims by utilizing photos of high-ranking executives and notable logos, such as the CP, the Stock Exchange of Thailand, and Amata.
Accepting the bait, victims are typically drawn into a Line or Open Chat group through FB Messenger. Here, the scammers’ accomplices work to deceive victims with the allure of significant earnings from these investment schemes.
Initial investment returns are received by the victims, bolstering their trust. Over time, victims are gradually invited to exclusive VIP groups, where they are convinced of the prospect of even greater returns.
In a grim turn of events, victims are coerced into keeping their investments within the scheme, under the pretext of securing profits for other members. Eventually, victims often suffer substantial monetary losses.
Amata CEO, Dr Wiwat Krommadit, expressed regret over the misuse of Amata’s name to deceive numerous Thai citizens on Facebook. He assured that the company had not turned a blind eye to these crimes, offering their full cooperation to the authorities in catching many of these scammers.
Chusak warned that the audacity of these scammers had reached new heights – fake “online police complaint receiving” pages were created, further deceiving naive victims.
A final reminder to tarnished victims: among the sophisticated web of scammers, there are no real IT experts or lawyers who can help retrieve misplaced investments. Victims are urged to remain cautious and verify all trading companies with the SEC before investing.
In an effort to address this situation aggressively, Digital Economy and Society Minister Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn announced his ministry’s intent to request Facebook’s ban in Thailand. The decision comes after the platform neglected to action against fraudulent pages that purchase advertisements.
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