The government has invited representatives from several social media platforms, including Facebook and TikTok, to discuss ways to tackle online scams.
The chairman of the House Committee on Communications, Telecommunications, Digital Economy and Society, Siam Hathasongkorh, said yesterday the meeting was convened as the number of people falling victim to online scams on Facebook and TikTok continues to rise.
Officials from the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB) and the Anti-Online Crime Centre (AOC) took part in the discussion, which touched on the possibility of rolling out further restrictions on internet access along the Thai-Myanmar border, where many scam syndicates are known to operate.
Mr Siam said the meeting also discussed ways to help victims recover their money from the scammers.
However, he said, the relevant law has yet to be amended to facilitate asset recovery. The second draft of a new cybersecurity act was recently approved by the cabinet, but it has yet to be endorsed by parliament.
The fact that scam syndicates often convert their loot into cryptocurrency may further complicate efforts to recover the victims’ assets, he added, before noting digital assets — unlike physical goods — can’t be easily auctioned off.
When asked about the government’s plan to prevent more people from falling victim to online scams, Mr Siam said the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, along with the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), are working together to increase public awareness of fraud.
He urged the public to ignore suspicious calls from unidentified numbers — citing a recent case in which a university student was coerced into transferring over 500,000 baht to scammers. The victim, he said, answered a call from an anonymous number and spent over 17 hours on the phone with the scammers.
When asked about the plan to cut off internet access along the Thai-Myanmar border by the end of this month, he said that the committee would visit Mae Sot next week to assess whether the plan will have an adverse impact on Thais living along the border.
Mr Siam said the committee will bring representatives from the National Telecom, network operators and the NBTC to inspect the area.
