1.5 million mule accounts seized in crackdown on cybercrimes

Accounts will be investigated by Anti-Money Laundering Office and related agencies

A total of 1,572,317 “mule accounts” have been seized and will be investigated under the government’s ongoing effort to tackle online scamming and other cybercrimes, the Digital Economy and Society (DES) Ministry announced on Saturday.

Mule accounts are bank accounts opened by individuals that are being used by others either to collect or transfer illegally gained funds to evade inspection by authorities.

DES Minister Prasert Jantararuangtong said that from November 2023 to January 31, 2025, a total of 1,572,317 bank accounts suspected of being linked to criminal activities have been seized. Of them, 1,255,000 accounts have been frozen by the banks, while 317,317 accounts have been frozen by the government's Anti-Online Scam Operation Centre.

He added that these accounts will be investigated by the Anti-Money Laundering Office and related agencies in a bid to track down money trails of criminal gangs.

Prasert said a total of 2,590 arrests were made in January for offences related to cybercrimes, a 3.81% increase from the same period last year.

Of these arrests, 1,083 cases were related to online gambling, increasing 1.78% year on year.

The DES Ministry also shut down or blocked access to 50,819 illegal URLs from October 1, 2024 to January 31, 2025. Of them, 27,134 URLs are of online gambling websites.

Prasert added that the DES Ministry has been working with the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) on mandating registration for individuals holding more than six mobile-phone SIM cards in a bid to curb online scamming.

As of February 10, a total of 9,059,534 mobile numbers fit the criteria of this measure. However, only owners of 6,631,453 numbers have registered their SIM cards, meaning that 2,428,081 numbers have been suspended to prevent usage by unregistered individuals.

To enhance the security of mobile banking, the DES Ministry also mandates that mobile banking users must have a matching name on SIM cards. 

Those whose account name is not matched with their SIM card, or SIM owner’s data has been lost, must update their data at banks or mobile operators before April 30.

Prasert said a total of 3,238,971 individuals have mismatched names of bank accounts and SIM cards, but so far only 1,836,636 have fixed the issue.

(2025/02/15-00:00)