Thailand Cracks Down on Online Fraud: Over 7,000 Arrested in 13 Days

On the 10th, Thai Prime Minister and Interior Minister Anutin held a press conference at the training center of the Royal Thai Police Headquarters, announcing increased efforts to combat cybercrime and transnational fraud networks.

Anutin stated that cybercrime has become a serious threat, not only affecting people from all walks of life but also impacting the nation's economy, trade, and investment.

He said the Thai government has elevated anti-fraud operations to a major national task, establishing the "Committee for the Prevention and Suppression of Technology Crimes," chaired by himself, and uniting 15 related agencies to drive a shift from "passive defense" to "proactive action."

He said the Royal Thai Police Headquarters has made significant progress in its crackdown, including freezing assets worth tens of billions of baht, revoking the visas of offenders, and clearing large numbers of dummy accounts—concrete evidence of the government's determination to stamp out cybercrime.

Regarding officials or political figures involved in fraud crimes, Anutin emphasized that the government will show zero tolerance, and all departments have been instructed to thoroughly investigate. The government fully backs police law enforcement.

He stated, "There will be no private settlements in these cases. The government will place the people's pain and rights as the top priority and resolutely uphold justice."

Meanwhile, Royal Thai Police Assistant Commissioner-General Jiraphong pointed out that if sincere cooperation can be established with the three main source countries of the scams, the issues could be fundamentally resolved. Thai police plan to invite law enforcement from relevant countries to conduct joint field investigations and promote the establishment of international cooperation mechanisms to form a multilateral response.

He stated that cutting off basic infrastructure supplies (such as electricity and the internet) to scam bases is another effective strategy, which can stop the "customer service centers" of fraud syndicates from operating and prevent their cross-border scams.

He stressed that even if related countries do not actively cooperate, the Thai police will not relax their efforts. At present, the National Police Headquarters has set up a "Joint Operations Room for Combating Technology Crime," integrating national police resources as well as government, private, and international collaborative resources to jointly tackle this borderless crime.

He said that multi-party collaboration is key to ultimate victory. Although full eradication will still take time, recent operations over the past month have already shown positive change and significant results.

He pointed out that from October 27 to November 8, during a 13-day crackdown, a total of 7,044 technology crime cases were solved with 7,174 suspects arrested.

In terms of recovering funds, since February 2025, the police have helped 322 victims recover a total of 312.01 million baht (approximately 40.11 million ringgit). At the press conference, 31 victims received recovered funds on-site, totaling 14.6 million baht.

Furthermore, in the crackdown on online gambling and illegal media, Thai police investigated and closed multiple illegal websites, platforms, and promoters—including some well-known internet celebrities. Between November 1 and 8 alone, 27 suspects were arrested for organizing gambling and online promotion. Overall, from October 1 to November 8, police dismantled 26 major online gambling syndicates, arrested 196 suspects, and seized assets worth 41.72 million baht.

Thai police have also worked closely with the country’s Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, blocking a total of 38,394 online gambling web addresses as of November 5, 2025, and closing 8,802 accounts on Facebook, YouTube, X (Twitter), TikTok, Line, and other platforms that contained gambling or other illegal content.