DES Ministry to hold banks, telecoms accountable for online scams

The Digital Economy and Society Ministry (DES) is set to amend regulations to hold banks and telecom operators accountable if they are found negligent in addressing online scams, according to DES permanent secretary Wisit Wisitsora-At.

Wisit made the new regulation announcement, yesterday, September 19, during the 60 Years of Excellence: Creating Great Leaders, Designing the Future seminar hosted by the Thailand Management Association (TMA).

“E-government, digital manpower, and digital trust are the three priorities driving digital transformation.”

To enhance digital trust, the ministry plans to introduce additional rules to last year’s measures aimed at preventing and suppressing technological crimes. These new rules will enforce liability among service providers, particularly targeting mule bank accounts and SIM cards. This initiative is part of the DES Ministry’s ongoing efforts to combat online scams, Wisit explained.

“The degree of enforcement will depend on the level of a service provider’s negligence related to the damage caused to the victim.”

Online scams and online gambling are estimated to account for 45% of Thailand’s overall GDP of 17 to 18 trillion baht (US$514 to 544 billion).

Online scam

Regarding e-government, the ministry has allocated a budget of 200 million baht (US$6 million) for the 2025 fiscal year to develop a conceptual design for the Cloud First policy for government services. This policy aims to transform the back-end systems of state agencies to support paperless work, Wisit said.

“Cloud adoption will enable more data usage for data analytics and artificial intelligence.

“The ministry itself has gone paperless to demonstrate the feasibility of this transition. This includes the daily processing of numerous requests to eradicate URLs deemed illegal.”

By 2024, it is estimated that at least 50% of government services will operate on a paperless basis. This transformation will involve the commerce ministry, interior ministry, culture ministry, and prime minister’s office.

State agencies can achieve paperless operations by moving their back-end systems to the cloud and using software provided on a software-as-a-service basis. Government websites can also be migrated to the cloud to enhance security, Wisit added.

On the front end, the ministry anticipates that 1,000 e-services will be ready to integrate with the digital ID system.

The ministry also employs a robotic system to investigate websites suspected of illegal activities and submit their names to Internet service providers. This system also tracks whether the websites were subsequently blocked.

In terms of digital manpower, the ministry plans to launch the learn to earn platform to match the demand for workers with the available supply of skilled labour, addressing labour shortages, reported Bangkok Post.

The platform will integrate data from educational institutions, business communities, and the Labour Ministry to meet the needs of the labour market, Wisit said.

“The ministry aims to improve Thailand’s global digital competitiveness ranking to 30 by 2027 from 35 last year by enhancing the country’s knowledge and future readiness factors.”

The National Statistical Office has been tasked with collecting digital data from various state agencies nationwide to provide an overview of the country’s status in various parameters, with the goal of improving the ranking.