The Digital Economy and Society (DES) Ministry has introduced a sandbox to test its "DE fence" anti-scam and spam platform in a fresh effort to suppress call centre gangs.
The platform is being tested by groups of state officials.
According to Wetang Phuangsup, secretary-general of National Digital Economy and Society Commission (ONDE), one highlight of the DE fence platform is that it is connected to the databases of telecom operators to obtain the most up-to-date number information.
It is also connected to the databases of the Royal Thai Police, the Anti-Money Laundering Office, the AOC 1441 Center, and the DES Ministry.
These connections enable it to allow the receiver of a call to identify the caller's information, identify whether or not they are scammers, or what the level of risk is in terms of the caller's phone number.
It also allows people to check irregularities in links attached to an SMS message before opening the message.
In addition, the platform provides an online reporting system and a system to request the seizure of a criminal's bank account via the AOC 1441 hotline service, so the police will be able to take action immediately.
"The difference between DE fence and other anti-scam and spam applications is DE fence has a more comprehensive exchange of all databases locally through collaboration among all related laws to help handle scams efficiently," Mr Wetang noted.
More importantly, DE fence can alert users whether an incoming call is made through the internet protocol network or a SIM card box. This will make it easy for them to decide whether or not to reject the call.
The cost of developing the DE fence platform, financed from ONDE's budget, stands at roughly 40 million baht.
DE fence will be available via a free download once the trial period is successfully completed.
The DES Ministry is in talks with the Electronic Transaction Development Agency to see whether it will consider making the platform a pre-installed app for mobile phones that will be available countrywide.
Deputy Prime Minister and DES Minister Prasert Jantararuangtong said DE fence is another platform used to alert the public, help screen incoming calls and SMS messages.
It integrates with related parties, including telecom service providers, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, and law enforcement officers, in line with the government's policy to crack down on call centre gangs and fraudulent SMS messages.
Mr Prasert said earlier that the platform will classify incoming calls and text messages into three groups: a black list, a grey list and a white list.
The black list represents numbers used by criminals that have been confirmed by relevant agencies, so platform users are advised to block them.
The grey list is suspicious numbers from other countries or an internet channel. The system notifies users of the risk level of the incoming call or SMS message.
The white list refers to numbers that have been confirmed by relevant agencies as belonging to government agencies. The platform user can then decide whether they wish to accept the call or message from this entity.
According to the Royal Thai Police, from Oct 1, 2023 to Sept 30, 2024, there were 330,000 online reports of tech crimes made by the public, generating damage worth 37 billion baht in total.
