China’s help needed to crack down on call-centre gangs: Thaksin

Ex-PM urges telecom operators to exercise caution in sale of SIM cards

Thailand needs cooperation from China in addressing the problem of scam call-centre gangs located in neighbouring countries, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra said on Thursday.

Thaksin was answering reporters' questions about the government’s confidence in cracking down on call-centre gangs, which have been causing substantial damage to the Thai economy.

The patriarch of the ruling Pheu Thai Party said only a small portion of these gangs are located in the kingdom, while most of them are in countries sharing borders with Thailand, and have been using our communication lines to scam Thai citizens.

Thaksin said that while Liu Zhongyi, Chinese assistant minister of public security is visiting Thailand, the government must relay messages to Chinese leaders that a multilateral cooperation at the regional level is a key to tackling the call-centre problem.

“China has a high influence on Myanmar and its military government, which Thailand cannot directly discuss with and therefore will need China’s assistance,” said Thaksin.

The former PM also advised Thai telecommunications operators to watch out who they are selling SIM cards to, to prevent hundreds of thousands of SIM cards falling into the hands of these gangs.

“Cutting off electricity and communication lines used by these gangs must be done simultaneously,” Thaksin said. “We can revoke the contract of utility sourcing if there is evidence that it has been used for illegal purposes.”

(2025/01/30-00:00)