Banks must stop illegal transactions upon request by their clients to prevent customer losses from online scams, said Minister of Digital Economy and Society (DES) Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn.
The Royal Decree on Cyber Crime Prevention and Suppression that came into effect on March 17 empowers banks to suspend any accounts which they suspect are being used by scammers without having to wait for an order from the police or victims.
As such, Mr Chaiwut said banks must set out a mechanism to support clients who have fallen victim to a suspected scam.
His warning came after TV news anchor Paweenamai Baikhloi revealed yesterday that she had lost over one million baht after falling victim to scammers posing as officials from the Department of Land.
In her complaint filed with Phasi Charoen Police on Aug 9, Paweenamai said the scammer contacted her on Line, claiming to be an official from the department who was reaching out to update her tax details.
The scammer was able to convince Paweenamai to give out her personal information by citing several details of the land she owns. However, she became suspicious when the scammer asked her to open a link and download a file which they claimed to be a DoL official application.
She stopped complying with the scammer's instructions, but by the time she realised, the gang had managed to drain over a million baht from three bank accounts under her name.
The anchor said her bank initially rejected her request to suspend her accounts, saying she needed to file a police report before they could do so. When she finally had all the documents she needed, six hours had lapsed since the accounts were drained by scammers.
Mr Chaiwut warned the public not to click on any suspicious links sent through a Line chat, especially after being told to by unknown individuals claiming to be public agency employees, as all public agencies have been instructed not to reach out to clients over the phone.
Mr Chaiwut also suggested that the public be more aware of the official website or applications of public agencies and/or banks to minimise the risk of being scammed.
The DES will also examine the DoL database to find evidence of data leakage or sale, which is illegal under the Personal Data Protection Act, said Mr Chaiwut.