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.
Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Economy and Society Prasert Jantararuangtong on January 28 announced that the Thai cabinet approved the proposed amendment to an executive decree on measures to solve technology crime.
The amendment will penalise financial institutions, telecom and social media firms if it is found that financial damage to the public resulted from their failure to comply with anti-scam measures.
It also requires telecom operators and the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission to suspend SIM cards suspected to have been used by scammers.
Authorities will return stolen money to victims without having to wait for cases to be finalised in court.
The penalty for revealing personal data without consent will increase to a maximum of 5 million THB (148,000 USD) and/or 5 years in prison, from 1 million THB and one year in prison.
According to the Bank of Thailand, in the past two years alone, many customers have been scammed online with total losses of more than 60 billion THB.
The State Council, the government's legal body, will review the amended law and the new law will take effect immediately after its publication in the Royal Gazette. This entire process usually takes a maximum of 30 days.
