Losses reported from call scams have halved, from about 100 million baht a day to less than 50 million baht a day since the government launched its crackdown on the gangs, according to Digital Economy and Society Minister Prasert Jantararuangtong.
The sharp decline followed the decision to cut off power, oil and internet supply to neighbouring border towns harbouring call-scam gangs, Mr Prasert said on Tuesday.
Complainants had initially reported total damages of around 100 million baht a day.
After the government set up a special centre and 1441 scam complaints hotline in November 2023, reported damage fell to 60-70 million baht a day, he said.
The special centre was receiving about 3,000 scam complaints a day at present, he said.
Since the oil, power and internet cutoff, the reported losses had fallen below 50 million baht a day, the minister said.
Thai authorities were issuing warrants for the arrest of suspected scammers and checking if any more internet cables were installed illegally to provide services to scam gangs in neighbouring countries.
He said 10 suspicious internet cables had been disconnected to date, after no one stepped forward to confirm their legitimacy.
Mr Prasert admitted that restricting internet services along the border affected some Thai users. Officials were looking to fix that.
He also said authorities had obtained warrants for the arrest of about 100 suspected call scammers.
The minister said that before week's end he would have discussions with banks, telecom operators and media platform owners about their shared responsibility in the event they failed to protect customers from call scams through inaction.
He expected that measures to ensure shared responsibility would be in effect before the end of the month.
