Illustrative photo - The Nation/ANN
BANGKOK: There has been an overall decline in online crime cases following intensified crackdown on technology-related crimes under the directive of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, a deputy spokesperson at the PM’s Office said.
According to data made available, there were 2,295 arrests in May for all types of online crimes, a decrease of 8% compared to the average of 2,495 arrests per month from January to March.
Arrests related to illegal online gambling totalled 991 cases, a 7% decrease compared to the average of 1,064 arrests per month during January to March.
Additionally, there were 199 arrests related to mule accounts and SIM cards, down 17% compared to the average of 140 arrests per month during January to March.
The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society has been actively cracking down on technology-related crimes through arrests, shutting down illegal online gambling websites, and monitoring the opening of accounts and freezing assets.
The authorities arrested nine suspects involved with the illegal online gambling site, “Baanhuay.com”, which had a monthly turnover of approximately 80 million baht.
They managed to seize assets worth about 70 million baht.
They also dismantled the major gambling website, “Wan Jiap”, which had a monthly turnover of over 1 billion baht.
The ministry also blocked 15,758 illegal websites in May, a 9.3-fold increase compared to the 1,687 websites blocked in May 2023.
Kanika Ounjit, deputy spokesperson at the Prime Minister's Office, said on Saturday (June 22): “The aforementioned statistics represent only a portion of the overall figures.
"Online crime cases have decreased significantly due to the proactive efforts by the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, in collaboration with local administrative organisations, the public sector, and private sector, to protect and safeguard personal data comprehensively."
"The integration of efforts by relevant agencies has expedited the arrest of criminals, led to the crackdown on mule accounts and SIM cards, the freezing of bank accounts, and the continuous blocking of illegal and online gambling websites,” Kanika said. - The Nation/ANN
