Bangkok (VNA) - Thailand’s Anti Cyber Scam Centre (ACSC) has revealed its weekly online crime statistics for March 29 to April 4, showing a notable rise in the number of cases but a sharp drop in overall losses.
The centre said this reflected faster and more effective fund freezes, but warned that online job scams had surged to become the single biggest cause of financial damage this week for the first time.
During the week, 7,366 cases were reported, up 176 cases, while total losses came to nearly 40 million THB (12.4 million USD), down more than 94 million THB from the previous week. The ACSC also said the main victim group remained women aged 21 to 30.
The centre also warned of two scam patterns now being used more aggressively. In the first, fraudsters lure victims with claims of cheap or free goods, then pull them into a Line group and assign fake “tasks” linked to receiving the product, before repeatedly demanding advance payments and eventually disappearing. In the second, scammers offer high-paying online work, starting with simple tasks such as liking and sharing content and even making small initial payments to build trust, before persuading victims to invest larger sums and then demanding more transfers until the money can no longer be withdrawn.
Over the past week, the ACSC coordinated with banks and local police to arrest 16 suspects, including 14 Thais and two foreign nationals. Officers seized more than 1.7 million THB in cash, helped more than 47 victims in time, and prevented more than 6.2 million THB from being transferred out.
The ACSC advised the public to buy goods only through platforms that use an escrow-style payment system, such as TikTok Shop, Lazada and Shopee, where money is released to the seller only after the buyer has received the goods. It also warned people never to trust invitations to join Line groups for so-called side-task assignments, saying that such behaviour is a clear sign of a scam and that people should end contact immediately./.
