The executive decree requiring financial institutions and telecom operators to share greater accountability for victims of scam losses is expected to take effect this month, according to Digital Economy and Society Minister Prasert Jantararuangtong.
He said it is an urgent government task to curb online scams.
The government decided to issue the executive decree because it wants an immediate law to enforce quickly, said Mr Prasert.
As an example under the decree, he said if financial institutions fail to ensure adequate preventive systems, which results in consumer financial loss from mule bank accounts, the institutions will be held financially responsible to the victims.
Financial institutions must not allow suspicious scammers to easily open bank accounts, said Mr Prasert.
He said there are around 100 bank accounts of juristic entities that are suspected of being mule accounts.
These accounts will be examined by the Anti-Money Laundering Office to determine whether they are on its blacklist, said Mr Prasert.
He said if telecom operators allow SMS messages to be sent with links attached that can steal money from mobile users' bank accounts, both the telecom operators and the scammers will be required to pay compensation to the victims.
Earlier Mr Prasert said the full details of the decree will be unveiled after publication in the Royal Gazette.
In a related matter, in Singapore the joint implementation of the Shared Responsibility Framework (SRF) for phishing scams by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore took effect on Dec 16, 2024.
Both organisations proposed an SRF that assigns financial institutions and telecom companies relevant duties to mitigate phishing scams, setting expectations of payouts to affected scam victims when these duties are breached.
