Consumer fraud is still the number one online scam, causing more than 1 billion baht in damage during the first quarter of this year, the Royal Thai Police (RTP) revealed on Monday.
According to deputy government spokesman Karom Polpornklang, 26,507 online scam cases were reported through the RTP website (thaipoliceonline.com), causing 4.65 billion baht in total damage, or 149 million baht a day.
Consumer fraud, in which individual suspects trick their victims into buying items or services online, was the predominant scam reported through the RTP website. These scams caused victims 1.02 billion baht in losses, he said.
The other types of popular scams were tricking people into transferring money in order to earn extra income, which caused 466 million baht of total damage, followed by loan scams, where victims ended up paying back far more money than they originally loaned due to illegally high interest rates. These financial cons accounted for damage of 112 million baht, he said.
Luring people to invest in digital assets accounted for 1.1 billion baht, while call centre scams caused losses of 289 million baht.
Mr Karom said that during March, the RTP suspended 28,233 bank accounts used by online scammers, freezing at least 588 million baht from around 1 billion baht of total damages.
Pol Maj Gen Siriwat Deepho, the RTP deputy spokesman, said that the acting police chief, Pol Gen Kitrat Panphet, had expressed his concerns at the extent of the losses incurred by victims and at the number of people who had knowingly or unknowingly given over control of their bank accounts to scammers or call centre gangs.
Pol Maj Gen Siriwat explained that mule accounts are key to all online fraud, so it is important for people not to give out their bank details or sell their bank books for small earnings.
People whose names are used on mule accounts will be punished with a maximum of three years in prison and a fine of up to 300,000 baht.
They will be considered members of the scam networks and receive the same punishment as fraud ringleaders, said Pol Maj Gen Siriwat.
