Damage from online fraud tallied 110 million baht per day in April, down 26% from 149 million baht per day in March, thanks to concerted efforts by authorities to crack down.
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin on April 1 assigned related organisations to provide concrete results of a crackdown on rampant online fraud within 30 days.
The number of online fraud complaints in April rose to 992 from 855 in March, attributed to a greater number of available channels for victims to use to file complaints, according to Digital Economy and Society (DES) Minister Prasert Jantararuangthong.
Mr Prasert said he is still not satisfied with the figures, although several critical indexes have seen an improvement. He specifically highlighted the fact that 16,158 illegal websites were blocked in April this year with the cooperation of related authorities, compared with the blocking of only 600 websites in April 2023.
The ministry and its partners are pinning their hopes on seeing more efficient operations in the handling of online crime through a planned AI-driven system as the ministry holds talks with the management of Microsoft Thailand to provide support to the state authority's operations in the area of online crime suppression.
"The greatest concern is deception in investments in securities, funds or digital assets through illegal websites and social platforms, as the damage per case related to these kinds of fraud could be 30-70 million baht," he said.
"The figures concerning damage have improved from last year. The ministry will submit the results and progress of the operation to the cabinet next week."
The related authorities and organisations need to continue to strictly follow critical measures governing online fraud, illegal or suspected websites, mule SIM cards and mule bank accounts, improving people's awareness of these kinds of fraud, preventing the risk of being deceived into making a illegal investment, and amending some regulations or laws, said Mr Prasert.
He said prosecutions concerning online offences averaged 1,000 cases per month between January and March, surging to 6,458 cases in April.
The number of prosecutions for online gambling stood at 1,200 cases per month between January and March, compared to 3,757 prosecutions in April. The number of prosecutions for mule accounts stood at 120 cases per month in the first quarter, compared to 361 prosecutions in April.
Regarding the measures aimed at removing and terminating mule accounts over the past few months, the Bank of Thailand and Thai Bankers' Association (TBA) has suspended 300,000 accounts, the ministry has suspended 112,699 accounts, while the Anti-Money Laundering Office has suspended 318,298 accounts.
Mr Prasert said the increase in the number of prosecutions and suspended accounts reflects the efficiency of the collaboration between the parties involved.
He said related parties have stepped up their efforts to prevent the risk of online scams. All agencies must submit related information such as suspected mule accounts, mule SIMs, and URL/Line information pertaining to gambling websites or other information to the Online Scam Operation Center as requested.
In addition, the central bank and TBA are expected to urgently remove mule accounts from the system. There are measures to regulate the opening of online accounts or multiple accounts that would require verification measures before approving the opening of such accounts.