Five state agencies are joining forces to suppress illegal financial transactions and money laundering along the nation's borders, deputy government spokeswoman Traisuree Taisaranakul said on Wednesday.
The five agencies are the Royal Thai Police (RTP), the Revenue Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo) and the Bank of Thailand (BoT).
Ms Traisuree said the RTP reported on progress made in cooperation with the other agencies in carrying out the task under the policy of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to suppress and prevent all forms of scams, including those made by call centre gangs and suppress transaction routes operating from border areas.
The agencies agreed the criminals are using illegal digital asset platforms to make peer-to-peer transactions while doing business and exchanging currencies along the nation's borders. This channel can be used for money laundering and transferring money earned from illegal activities to foreign countries.
The RTP has been working with the agencies to set guidelines to suppress the illegal digital asset trade along the border and assigned tasks to each agency to combat such illegal activities.
Ms Traisuree said the RTP has created a database of digital asset business operators and currency exchange operators in the border areas. The database has proven useful in expanding the investigation and is accessible by Amlo as it moves to prosecute offenders under the Anti-Corruption Act, she said.
Amlo has checked suspicious transaction routes assigned by the RTP to find related bank accounts and digital assets to suppress or freeze money trails. It is also considering reviewing some laws so they can be more effectively enforced, she said.
Meanwhile, the Revenue Department has been checking tax payments made by business operators to see if they were using illegal digital asset platforms, for which the RTP database has proven useful. The BoT has okayed commercial banks to investigate and monitor any financial transactions to foreign countries originating from areas where illegal transactions are often detected.