Botnet scams: Digital war threatens nation's economy & security
Cybercrime is now an industry. Botnets replace call centres, mass-stealing data traded on Telegram. This digital war threatens national economic and political security.
- Transnational criminal organizations use Botnet systems—networks of malware-infected devices—to conduct widespread financial scams and steal personal data from victims.
- The stolen data is widely traded on accessible platforms like Telegram, posing a systemic threat to the nation's economy by making illicit financial flows difficult to trace and eroding public trust.
- The threat has escalated into a "digital war" that endangers national security, as bots and fake accounts are also used to manipulate public opinion and create social division.
- Government countermeasures are struggling to keep pace with these rapidly evolving cyber threats, which now require a response akin to national digital defense rather than traditional crime-fighting.
The phenomenon of online crime has expanded significantly and is systematically embedded within transnational criminal structures.
It is no longer limited to individual cases of fraudulent calls or financial scams; rather, it has escalated into a fully-fledged “crime industry” that employs high-level technology to control operations 24 hours a day.
Over the past two to three years, Thailand has become a major target for cybercrime groups operating from bases in Cambodia and Myanmar.
They lure workers from various countries, including Thai citizens, to work in illicit call centres, where they are forced to defraud the public through various scams.
These range from fake banking applications and fraudulent parcel tracking links to sophisticated investment scams that can strip a victim of their life savings in a matter of days.
Beneath the surface of these scams lies a complex technological structure.
The core of these operations is the Botnet system, a network of compromised computers remotely controlled via malware.
The moment a victim clicks a dangerous link or opens a malicious file, their device is immediately infected with a "bot" program ready to execute the criminals' commands.
This bot steals personal data, forwards account information, and autonomously spreads to other machines.
In many cases, victims are completely unaware that their personal phone or computer is functioning as a “digital soldier” under the control of the operator.
The data automatically exfiltrated can range from ID card numbers, bank accounts, contact lists, and photos of sensitive documents to Session Tokens for accessing social media accounts, all of which are immediately traded on the online black market.
A growing concern is that the trade of this data is no longer confined to the Dark Web. It has expanded into user-friendly platforms like Telegram, which offers secret group chats, data-trading bots, and cryptocurrency payment systems.
This makes tracing the flow of both money and data exponentially more difficult.
Even internal personnel within telecommunication service organisations have been investigated for illicitly sending customer images via Telegram, confirming that the “risk of data leakage” is not solely external but also hidden within the sensitive systems of private institutions.
When cybercrime intersects with a nation's security, borders, and finance, the threat is no longer limited to individual victims.
It becomes a systemic threat that can undermine public trust and the overall economy.
The situation is further complicated as online operations increasingly spill onto the political stage.
There are reports of avatars, fake accounts, and bots being used to amplify political information, manipulate public opinion, and sow social division.
This is systematically achieved by exploiting platform algorithms to scale ideological amplification.
This represents a “data war” hidden beneath the iceberg of digital crime.
While the government has begun implementing measures, such as the Decree on Technology Crime Prevention, blocking fraudulent SMS messages, instant transaction freezing systems, and the Bank’s Cyber Security Coordination Centre, the speed of cyber threats, which utilise AI and automated command systems, often outpaces traditional legislation and bureaucratic processes.
This fight is not a conventional effort to “catch a criminal.”
It is a matter of national defence in the digital world. If data is the new form of wealth, protecting citizens must involve developing proactive detection systems, building cyber literacy skills within society, and elevating law enforcement to international standards.
This must be coupled with regional cooperation with neighbouring countries to break the cycle of cross-border networks.
The future of Thailand’s digital economy genuinely depends on its ability to manage the cyber threat.
In an era where the weapons are code and data, the border is no longer a geographical area, but rather the “security of citizens' data,” which is rapidly becoming the new battlefield of the digital age.
