He said the new law is necessary to tackle rampant technology-related crimes, spearheaded by a special law agreed upon at a recent meeting of the committee tasked with suppressing and preventing technology crimes.
The panel discussed several issues, including why the victims had to wait until the cases were finalised to reclaim their money even though authorities had already frozen it, reports the Bangkok Post.
The meeting also discussed the possibility of increasing jail terms for purchasing/selling private data from one to five years, the prevention of illegal money transfers through digital assets, and measures to enhance the exchange of information between agencies.
Mr Prasert said a subcommittee on legal affairs was instructed to examine the legal technicalities and draft a bill to address these issues, which it would present to the Cabinet in 30 days.
“Suppressing mule bank accounts and mule SIM cards has seen significant progress. But tackling the culprits and the masterminds in Thailand and overseas isn’t satisfactory.
“We’ve found some legal obstacles hinder tracing money and returning it to the victims. We need a special law to address this,” he said.
The DES Ministry also updated authorities’ efforts to rein in online crime.
From July 1-31, the number of arrests related to online crime totalled 2,306, or a 7.57% reduction compared to the average of the first three months of this year. The number of arrests related to online gambling was 980, showing a 7.89% decrease from the average of the first three months.
The number of arrests related to mule accounts and mule SIM cards was 208, representing a 13.33% reduction compared to the average of the first three months.
In July this year alone, 16,279 illegal websites were closed, a sevenfold increase from July of last year, when 2,294 were shut down. Additionally, 6,519 gambling websites were closed, compared to only 97 in July of last year.
As of July 31, 920,694 suspected mule accounts and 71,122 SIM cards found to have been used to make more than 100 calls per day were suspended. Of those suspended, only 418 owners had verified their identities.