TOT Plc customers in several provinces have been targeted by scammers in recent weeks, with the Chai Nat branch reporting more than 100 cases in a single day.
According to TOT customer service in Chai Nat, more than 100 calls were made last Friday to complain about scammers targeting TOT customers. Several were duped into giving their personal information to the gang.
Based on the complaints, the scammers, posing as TOT officials, told the potential victims they had overdue payments. If they did not transfer money to specified bank accounts to pay the bills, their telephone and internet services would be disconnected in two hours.
For those who insisted they had cleared the bills, scammers would ask for their personal details and ID card numbers they claimed "necessary" for correcting the mistakes in the computer system. Several fell for this trick.
Chutima Boonchaipanich, a TOT official of Chai Nat branch, called on customers to hang up on anyone claiming to be a TOT staff and demanding them to pay the bills.
She said the practice was never a standard operation and TOT Plc customers can make payments at TOT office branches or to authorised agents specified in their monthly statements. She also urged the customers to report the suspected scammers to the TOT hotline 1100.
In Si Sa Ket, Chaiya Wongsalert, manager of the TOT office in Kantharalak district, said more than 300 individual customers and government agencies had reported scam calls to the branch.
Mr Chaiya said the callers threatened to disconnect telephone and Internet services if the customers failed to transfer money in two hours and used various methods to get personal and financial details. He urged the customers to be on their guard against scams.
State-owned TOT Plc operates landline and mobile phone services, as well broadband internet.