Anti scam centre freezes 2,500 bank accounts in fight against fraud

In a significant move against call-centre scams, the Anti Online Scam Operation Centre (AOC) froze 2,671 bank accounts in its initial two weeks of operation.

Government spokesman Chai Wacharonke shared these statistics, highlighting the effectiveness of the centre, which was launched on November 1 to combat such fraudulent activities. The centre received a staggering 38,564 distress calls from victims within the first two weeks, with each account being frozen roughly 15 minutes post a complaint’s receipt.

Following a surge in the number of calls, the Digital Economy and Society (DES) Ministry has since expanded the AOC’s capacity to handle a higher call volume.

At the beginning of the month, the Office of the Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) has plans for a do not call list available nationwide to help people detect and block calls and SMS from strangers and suspicious numbers. The motive is to target call scam centres.

It is hoped that the do not call list would be available by early next year through a downloadable application. The app will allow citizens to choose the companies or sectors that they do not wish to be contacted by. The proposed system will block the selected phone numbers automatically.

PDPC secretary-general Sivaruk Siwamogsatham claimed that the proposed system will assemble public service numbers as whitelist numbers. It will operate in a way comparable to Whoscall, an app which identifies the caller.

The system has not yet been named, but it could possibly bear the name Smart PDPA (Personal Data Protection Act) app, according to Sivaruk.

The PDPC and the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) had signed a three-year MoU on their collaboration to protect personal information as well as improve supervision to the public’s benefit. The MoU was signed by the PDPC secretary-general and Sarana Boonbaichaipruck, the NBTC chairman, reported Bangkok Post.

Sarana stated that the telecom sector promotes the development of services in tandem with other sectors, such as telemedicine.

For further information, the AOC’s hotline is 1441, available 24 hours.