DSI invited representatives from Office of The NBTC and major Internet service providers in Thailand to discuss solutions to illegal SIM card problems with AMLO and Thai Bankers’ Association

DSI invited representatives from Office of The NBTC and major Internet service providers in Thailand to discuss solutions to illegal SIM card problems with AMLO and Thai Bankers’ Association

       The press conference by Mr. Somsak Thepsuthin, the Minister of Justice, and Mr. Triyarith Temahivong, the Director-General of the Department of Special Investigation, about investigations by the DSI’s Office of Special Case Interdisciplinary revealed the finding of a network distributing over 100,000 pieces of ready-to-use registration SIM cards for mobile phones both for phone calls and internet usage of major internet service providers, such as AIS, Dtac, and TrueMove, the seizure of instruments used for online registration with the said Internet service providers and a large amount of aliens’ identification card data, the entering of information of the aliens and fake data into the computer system for registration, the use of such data for crime commission by Call Center gangs in particular or for civil disorder in southern border provinces’ areas, and the submission of case report for consideration to accept this case as a special case.

       On Wednesday, January 26, 2022, 1.30 p.m., at the DSI’s conference room 1, Mr. Triyarith Temahivong, the Director-General of the DSI, invited representatives of Office of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (Office of The NBTC)and mobile phone service providers, namely, Dtac, TrueMove and AIS, to attend the meeting, but the AIS’s representative was not presented. The meeting discussed legal and technical rules for SIM cards registration and solutions to the problem of SIM cards use for crime commission, particularly the Internet used for VoIP call or Internet phone calls for anonymity purposes. In addition, the solution to the use of such phone numbers when applying for opening deposit accounts with various commercial banks for receiving transferred money from deception and the i-Banking transaction. In these matters, the aforesaid mobile phone service providers were ready to support by providing technical officers and special equipment for inspecting SIM cards, the evidence of the case, due to its significant impact on the nation’s public order and security.

       For efficiency and consistency in solving the financial problems relating to commercial banks and the Anti-Money Laundering Office and the use of phone numbers to link with bank accounts relating to work of the Office of the NBTC, the meeting agreed to invite representatives of the Thai Bankers’ Association, the AMLO, and the Office of The NBTC to attend the next meeting which would be held in the next week for solution discussion. The meeting also assigned the DSI’s Office of Special Case Interdisciplinary to coordinate with the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau of the Royal Thai Police and relevant agencies for efficient integration of solutions to such problems.

Dated January, 27 2022