The Thai government has endorsed a legal change that will hold banks, phone operators and social media owners responsible for damage from call-centre scams if they are found negligent or reckless.
The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society proposed the change, in the form of an amendment to an executive decree on measures to solve technology crime. The cabinet approved it on Tuesday, said minister Prasert Jantararuangtong.
The amendment would penalise financial institutions, telecom and social media firms if it is found that financial damages to the public resulted from their failure to comply with anti-scam measures, the minister said. He did not elaborate on how responsibility would be determined.
The amendment also requires telecom operators and the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission to suspend SIM cards suspected to have been used by scammers. As well, it allows authorities to return stolen money to victims without having to wait for cases to be finalised in court.
In addition, the penalty for revealing personal data without consent has been increased to a maximum of 5 million baht and/or 5 years in prison, from 1 million baht and one year in prison.
The law also prohibits digital asset trading through peer-to-peer lending platforms in order to prevent scammers from laundering stolen money into digital money.
“When the amended decree takes effect, it should help reduce technology crime and damages to the public,” Mr Prasert said.
Thai bank customers lost more than 60 billion baht to online financial scams in the past two years alone, according to the Bank of Thailand. They are losing an estimated 60-70 million baht a day to cybercrimes of various forms, said government spokesman Jirayu Huangsub.
The Council of State, the government’s legal arm, will review the amendment and it will take effect immediately on publication in the Royal Gazette.
The process should take no longer than 30 days, he said.
