Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has stressed the Government's strong efforts to crack down on call center scams and tackle the drug issue, saying that the efforts would not end until these problems were resolved.

The Prime Minister joined the parliamentary session on 27 February 2025 to answer a question asked by Mr. Akradech Wongpituchroj, a United Thai Nation Party MP for Ratchaburi, about the Government’s action against call center gangs and transnational crime.

 Prime Minister Paetongtarn stated that every province has been affected by the widespread call center issue, and that she had received many reports of people being deceived to the point of bankruptcy, with some being driven to take their own lives.

Upon taking office, she immediately instructed relevant agencies to work in an integrated manner in tackling the issue, as well as holding talks with neighboring countries to seek cooperation in anti-scam operations.

She explained that the Government had set up an online crime prevention and suppression center, which receives complaints around the clock to reduce and stop damage. The center has so far closed down 1.92 million mule accounts.

The Government is implementing measures to improve bank account registration for high-risk individuals, as well, and it has also proposed a draft bill on technology crime prevention and suppression, seeking to empower relevant agencies to impose penalties on those selling people's private information.

Concerning border security, local security forces were ordered to step up efforts to arrest human trafficking networks crossing the border to form call center gangs, and they were also instructed to destroy illegal internet signal sources. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has addressed the issue through a trilateral system between Thailand, China, and Myanmar. Arrested suspects would be screened and processed in accordance with the law.

The Prime Minister pointed out that the Government’s decision to cut off electricity and fuel supply provided to locations along the border has effectively eased the problem of call center scams, with positive results and good cooperation.

She said that she would visit Sa Kaeo Province on 28 February to follow up on the measures to tackle the problem, such as the reduction of the height of internet transmission towers and the suppression of SIM boxes halting Wi-Fi calling from neighboring countries.