The Digital Economy and Society (DES) Ministry will consider as an urgent agenda item the case of scammers using low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites to create internet connectivity for their operations.
The ministry will include this as a measure in addition to its six existing measures aimed at suppressing online fraud.
According to DES Minister Prasert Jantararuangtong, the satellite connections represent one of the channels utilised by the scammers located along Thailand's borders as the government continues to sever ground-based broadband internet signal in these areas.
LEO satellites are still there as a footprint that allows countries bordering Thailand to use it, Mr Prasert added.
He said the equipment and devices related to LEO satellites used by scammers had been smuggled into Thailand to be used in border areas by the fraudsters.
The ministry and joint parties seized many sets of Starlink satellite equipment late last year that fraudsters were set to use to receive and transmit high-speed internet signals via the satellites.
Mr Prasert said he would bring the issue of the LEO devices used by scammers forward as an urgent measure at the ministry, in addition to the existing measures that joint parties had implemented in the effort to prevent online scams.
Those measures include closing social media, illegal websites and gambling websites; expediting the seizure and interception of money transfers; solving the problem of mule SIMs linked to mobile banking; and taking action against illegal telecom towers and internet signal lines along the border.
"The agenda of LEO satellite usage may cover all aspects related to security issues such as devices that are smuggled into the country as well as the signal landing right procedure involved with the authority of the telecom regulator," Mr Prasert said.
He added that LEO satellite service adoption is useful for technology development but state agencies have to keep up and monitor its usage to ensure it is in line with national security.
Previously, Takorn Tantasith, a member of the Thai Sang Thai Party, urged the government to set up a working group to study the potential impacts of LEO satellite connectivity from two large companies, noting that call centre gangs based along the borders might use them to connect to the internet and support their activities.
Mr Takorn, a former secretary-general of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, said OneWeb has 648 satellites with a footprint covering many countries, including Thailand.
He said Starlink has 6,000 satellites and a footprint spanning North America, South America, Europe, Australia, Japan, Kenya, Nigeria, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and the whole of Thailand.
In a related development, the DES Ministry and joint parties suspended over 1.5 million mule accounts as of Jan 31.