Bangkok (VNA) – Fraudulent accounts on Facebook caused 718 million THB ( 20.2 million USD) in damage in the past year in Thailand, according to Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Digital Economy and Society Minister Prasert Jantararuangtong.
During a recent briefing highlighting achievements made by the Anti-Online Scam Operation Center (AOC) from November 1, 2023 to November 14,2024, Prasert said the AOC had received over 1.17 million complaints via the hotline 1441, resulting in the suspension of 348,006 suspicious Facebook accounts.
Total reported damage from online scams during this period amounted to more than 19 billion THB, of that, Facebook emerged as the most frequent channel for scams as it accounted for 26,804 cases and 718 million THB in damage.
Other common channels included calls by dubious call centres (22,299 cases and about 945 million THB), websites (16,510 cases and about 1.1 billion THB), TikTok (994 cases and about 65 million THB and others (20,518 cases and about 1.2 billion THB).
Bangkok topped the list of affected areas with 84,241 incidents and 48,558 suspended accounts. It was followed by Samut Prakan, Nonthaburi, Chon Buri and Pathum Thani.
Victim demographics showed those aged between 20 and 49 as the most affected, with 145,302 cases and damage totalling about 8.2 billion THB. This group was primarily targeted through fraudulent job offers and online investment schemes.
Meanwhile, the second most affected age group were those aged 50 or over. They were largely exploited through investment fraud. The group posted 41,901 cases and losses of nearly 7.8 billion THB./.
