The Pheu Thai Party said on Thursday the 10,000-baht digital wallet policy would be implemented before April next year and warned people not to fall victim to scammers luring them to click malicious links to access the handout.
Pheu Thai deputy secretary-general Paopoom Rojanasakul said the 10,000-baht digital wallet is expected to be ready for launch in the first half of next year, and the party will try its best to roll it out before April.
He said the 10,000-baht digital wallet will not be part of the Pao Tang wallet and stressed that links being circulated to supposed 10,000-baht digital wallets are scams and not related to the party's policy because the Pheu Thai-led government is still being formed.
Treechada Srithada, Pheu Tha's deputy spokeswoman, said scammers are sending fraudulent "digital wallet" links for people to click on to register to receive digital handouts from the Pheu Thai-led government.
These links are aimed at stealing personal data and money from victims' bank accounts, she said.
"The new government is yet to be formed, and the Pheu Thai Party has not commenced its national administration," said the spokeswoman. "No digital wallet application or relevant registration process is in place."
Pheu Thai's flagship scheme pledges a 10,000-baht digital handout to every Thai aged 16 and older, delivered via smartphone. The digital money can only be spent within a four-kilometre radius of recipients' homes, but this is flexible depending on the locations of the recipients.
The digital money is valid for six months, and there is no need to register to access the wallet.
For those without access to the digital wallet app, they can use their national ID card to obtain a personal code in order to spend the digital money.
The policy was shelved following the May 14 election as the priority was given to social welfare policies of the Move Forward Party, which was at that time the core party in forming the government.
Pheu Thai recently announced it would go ahead with the policy after it took the lead in forming the government. It is estimated it will cost up to 560 billion baht.