NBTC finds over 113 million mobile banking accounts do not match account owner names

Bangkok, NBTC joins hands with Anti-Money Laundering Office to organize mobile banking, finds 79 million accounts, SIM card owners do not match account names, more than 113 million numbers, ready to proceed with all methods to deal with call center gangs. Pol. Gen. Dr. Natthorn Phueasunthon, a member of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) and chairman of the Subcommittee on Integrating Approaches to Enforcement of the Law on Telecommunications Technology Offenses and State Security, said after a meeting to follow up on the progress in solving the call center gang problem and announcing the results of various measures that the measure to verify the identity of SIM card holders with 6 or more numbers that expired on July 13, 2024, the NBTC has gradually suspended the use of SIM cards that did not verify within the specified time and has investigated ghost SIMs, mule accounts, and Mobile Banking together with the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO), which is currently investigati ng the separation of networks, eliminating illegal telecommunications signal poles and cables. Meanwhile, the NBTC, together with the Royal Thai Police, have cracked down on and destroyed illegal poles along the border. As for the latest search and seizure of illegal telecommunications equipment that is not authorized by the NBTC, on July 11, 2024, a large number of items were seized in Bangkok, including Suan Luang and Watthana districts. A total of 18 types of items, more than 6,000 items, were seized, with a combined value of more than 12 million baht. These measures will help to deter technology crimes in a tangible way. For the verification of the identity of mobile phone users in the group of SIM card holders 6-100 numbers who are required to register by July 13, 2024 and begin to gradually suspend the use of 2,141,317 numbers by suspending outgoing calls, sending messages, and using the internet, but can still receive incoming calls for a while before being revoked. It is believed that in 2-3 weeks a fter the suspension, a large number of users will come to verify more, similar to the first group, which is the group of 101 numbers and above, which were previously suspended for 1,096,000 numbers. Therefore, SIMs that are activated without registration or registered with incorrect, incomplete information and are expected to be in the possession of the call center gang will be eliminated. As for the progress in checking the information on registering the Mobile Banking SIM card with the bank account to see if it belongs to the same person or not, at this time, the NBTC has received information from all 21 banks via the AMLO. There are 113,568,836 Mobile Banking phone numbers that do not match the names of 79 million account owners. They are currently checking each network separately before sending it to each mobile phone service provider to compare whether the owner of the SIM card used for online transactions and the owner of the bank account belong to the same person or not. The NBTC will then collect and send it back to each commercial bank via the AMLO system to proceed with the matter of whether to suspend or in what form. It is expected to be completed by September 30, 2024. As for the measure to eliminate illegal telecommunications poles and cables, the NBTC, together with the Royal Thai Police, cracked down and arrested 29 people who illegally installed illegal signal poles along the border, which helped the call center gang, and brought them to justice. They also inspected mobile phone base stations and signal poles of telecommunications operators, inspected the direction of signal distribution along the border, and implemented strict inspection measures, which received good cooperation from all three mobile phone service providers. The results of the operations in the border area were the suspension of 465 signal points, the adjustment of antenna directions at 470 points, and the removal of 179 antenna points. These measures have helped to solve the problem of technological crimes in a tangible way, a s can be seen from the continuous influx of Starlink satellite communication devices to neighboring countries. It is expected that this is an operation where criminals are beginning to adapt, while the government is discussing adjustments to accept changing technology to protect consumers. Source: Thai News Agency