Romance scams, friend impostor scams, short messages with fraudulent links and false accusation calls have been the most common tricks used by scammers in 2024, a deputy spokesman for the Royal Thai Police Office revealed on Sunday.
Victims of cybercrimes filed 739,000 online complaints via www.thaipoliceonline.go.th between Mar 1 and Nov 30 this year. They caused combined damage of 77 billion baht, or an average of 77 million baht per day, Pol Maj Gen Siriwat Deepor said.
The four most common scams are as follows:
1. Using a fake social media account to establish a romantic relationship with the victim, claiming to have sent valuable parcels that were held up at Thai customs for tax reasons, and asking the victim to pay the duties, with promises of reimbursement. Romance scammers also deceive the victim into investing in a bogus scheme.
2. Making a phone call to the victim and posing as a friend or relative – asking them to guess which of their friends was speaking. Once the victim fell into the trap, the fraudster would borrow money.
3. Sending short messages to the victim’s phone with fraudulent links -- encouraging them to sign up for lucky-draw prizes, product discounts or retrieving their lost parcels. The purpose is to trick the victim into giving away information or access to their bank accounts.
4. Calling and posing as a government official, telling the victim they were involved in an illegal activity and they must transfer an amount of money for examination, or luring them to install an application.
Pol Maj Gen Siriwat warned people to be vigilant about these internet and phone scams and help monitor whether their loved ones risk falling victim to them. If someone thinks they are a victim, they should file online complaints via www.thaipoliceonline.go.th or call the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CIB)'s 24-hour hotline 1441, he said.
