The Digital Economy and Society (DES) Ministry of Thailand has launched the Anti Online Scam Operation Centre (AOC). (Photo: The Nation) The AOC is located at National Telecom's headquarterson Chaeng Watthana Road, while the centre's 24-hour hotline number for thepublic is 1441.
DES Minister Prasert Jantararuangthong said theAOC's roles include supporting the immediate suspension of affected bankaccounts as requested by victims, following up on problem solving for victims,accelerating the process of returning money to victims, and using technology tosuppress scams.
The AOC monitors fraud cases and providesconsultation to the public regarding online scams, according to the minister.
Prasert said as the AOC has to work quickly, itoperates using war room functions such as intelligence assistance technologyand an intelligence-based platform to gather information and create a largedatabase for use in preventing and cracking scams. The platform will analysefinancial information and phone numbers, as well as information regardingquestionable transactions.
The centre will forward to related banks informationabout victims' money transfers to scammers, allowing the banks to freeze theaccounts in time, he said.
Then the Royal Thai Police, the National Broadcastingand Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) and the Bank of Thailand can exchangeinformation on the incident.
Laws that can be applied to scam cases include theComputer Crime Act and the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
Prasert said the number of online scam casesexceeded 330,000 between March 1, 2022 and Sept 30, 2023, resulting in damageof more than 45 billion THB (1.25 billion USD)./.
VNA
