Scam Calls Hit Record in Thailand Before Cyber Fraud Crackdown

Thailand saw the number of scam calls and text messages more than double to a record 168 million in 2024 from a year earlier, an anti-scam tech firm said, before authorities stepped up a crackdown on cyber fraud operations in Southeast Asia.

Scammers most often pretended to sell fake products, represent Thai firms, offer loans, or collect debt, according to data collected by Whoscall, an application that identifies unknown callers and blocks scam calls. The fraudsters have recently begun to impersonate delivery services and state utilities or agencies, said app provider Gogolook Thailand, a unit of Taipei-listed Gogolook Co. Ltd.

Such attempts were detected nearly 130 million times as text messages and 38 million times as calls in 2024. That’s a 112% surge from 2023, when Whoscall recorded a total of 79.2 million calls and messages.

“The substantial increase is attributed to the progressively intricate scam ecosystem, fueled by the adoption of advancements in generative AI technology via phone, SMS and malicious links,” Manwoo Joo, chief executive officer at Gogolook Thailand, said in a statement on Monday.

The staggering number of scam attempts highlight the enormity of the cyber scam industry across Southeast Asia, with centers set up in Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos. The billion-dollar criminal operations are run mostly by Chinese fugitives who fled their home nation in 2020 following a domestic crackdown and ensnare thousands of workers who are victims of human trafficking.

The United Nations Human Rights Office said in a report that hundreds of thousands of people across Southeast Asia are being forcibly held by criminal gangs and made to engage in illicit activities from romance-investment scams and crypto fraud to illegal gambling.

The Thai government has estimated that its citizens lose an average of 60 to 70 million baht ($1.8-$2 million) a day to the scam operations, with total losses amounting to 42 billion baht between October 2023 and November 2024. Local authorities have set a up hotline for victims to lodge complaints besides mounting a public campaign to not fall victims to cyber scam attempts.

Saying it needs to protect its citizens, Thailand has ramped up its crackdown on the transnational criminal industry in neighboring countries in recent weeks. The government has moved to make banks, mobile phone operators, social media platforms and online money lenders liable for financial frauds committed on their platforms. It also cut off electricity, internet access and fuel supplies to some areas in Myanmar suspected to house cyber scam operations.

Last week, Thailand worked with China and Myanmar’s junta to repatriate hundreds of Chinese citizens from scam centers in a border town in Myanmar. The three countries will meet again at a ministerial level soon about the next steps, Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa said on Sunday.

Thai and Cambodian police also rescued 215 foreign nationals in a raid on an online scam center in northwestern Cambodia on Sunday.

China’s foreign ministry said last week that Beijing is working with Thailand, Myanmar and other countries to jointly prevent law-breakers from crossing borders to commit crimes and end the scourge of online gambling and telecom fraud.

Copyright 2025 Bloomberg.

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