Thailand: 5,000 baht aid applications exceed 13 million

Bangkok (NNT/VNA) - Registration for 5,000 baht government aid, for people affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, was opened on March 28 at 6pm via the "เราไม่ทิ้งกัน ดอทคอม" website. Immediately after the registration opened, the website crashed, due to the overwhelming number of applicants.

Krungthai Bank, who is responsible for the website, urgently repaired the registration page. Only 5 minutes after the restart, 20 million people were reported to be trying to register at the same time, which exceeded the server’s capacity of 3,480,000 per minute.

According to the authorities, over 13 million people have already applied for the aid and the number keeps rising as the website is open round the clock. A confirmation message will be sent to the applicants. Within 7 days, applicants who meet the requirements will receive 5,000 baht via Promptpay or their registered account number.

Charnkrit Dejvitak, the vice-minister attached to the prime minister, said the aid recipient will not be selected by first come first serve, but by category of requirement for the aid. Applicants who meet the requirements and are affected by the COVID-19 outbreak will all receive the aid.

The government warned the public not to trust fraudsters who are trying to take advantage during the crisis by opening fake registration websites or volunteering to help in the application process. If so, personal information may be used corruptly. Those who attempt such fraud will be punished with 3 years imprisonment or a 60,000 baht fine or both./.