ACSC reports 392 fewer online scam cases, losses drop by over 195 million baht
ACSC reports scam cases down 392 and losses cut by 195 million baht, but warns criminals now exploit southern floods with fake alerts and donation scams.
- The Royal Thai Police's Anti-Cyber Scam Centre (ACSC) reported a drop of 392 online scam cases and a reduction in financial losses of over 195 million baht for the week of November 23-29.
- This decrease, representing a 31.40% fall in reported losses from the previous week, is attributed to effective police suppression and public awareness campaigns.
- Despite the overall drop, authorities warn that crackdowns are causing scam syndicates to relocate and adopt new tactics, such as exploiting Thailand's southern flood crisis.
- While online purchase fraud remains the most frequent offence, 'reward transfer scams' have overtaken investment scams as the category causing the highest financial losses.
The Anti-Cyber Scam Centre (ACSC) of the Royal Thai Police has released its latest weekly statistics, showing a significant fall in online scam cases and financial losses.
Between November 23 and 29, 6,533 cases were reported via the Thai Police Online platform, with total losses of 424.78 million baht. This represents a drop of 392 cases and a reduction in damage worth 195.75 million baht compared with the previous week.
Data analysis indicates a continued downward trend in both case numbers and losses, reflecting the effectiveness of suppression measures and public warning campaigns. Reported losses have fallen by 31.40%.
However, ACSC warns that recent crackdowns — including the major operation against the Shwe Kokko scam hub in Myanmar, where 900–1,700 foreign suspects were detained — have triggered “the great displacement”, pushing scam syndicates to relocate.
Combined with Thailand’s ongoing crackdown on mule accounts, criminals are seeking new openings.
Authorities believe some groups are attempting to exploit Thailand’s southern flood crisis. Tactics include fake base stations sending fraudulent emergency alerts, false compensation messages, and disinformation aimed at panicked flood victims.
Malaysia is currently seeing a similar surge, with fake messages sent to mobile phones posing as government authorities. Fraudsters have also created fake Facebook pages soliciting emergency donations, pressuring the public to transfer money without verification.
Scam trends and major cases
Online purchase fraud remains the most frequently reported offence, followed by the fast-rising category of “reward transfer scams”, task-based income scams and telephone intimidation schemes. In terms of financial losses, reward transfer scams now rank first, overtaking investment scams that had topped the list for the past two weeks.
ACSC notes a shift in criminal behaviour from pursuing “big-ticket victims” to mass-targeting medium-sized victims who believe they are claiming prizes, resulting in substantial combined losses despite smaller individual amounts.
Recent high-value examples include a 6.29-million-baht reward transfer scam in which a victim selling a breast pump on Facebook was tricked into scanning a QR code, joining a LINE open chat group and repeatedly transferring membership and activity fees.
Another case involved a 17.65-million-baht investment scam, where a victim lured by a stock-trading advertisement on Facebook transferred money multiple times but was later blocked from withdrawing funds.
