BANGKOK, THAILAND – The Royal Thai Police warned of a renewed surge in phone and SMS scams spreading nationwide despite raids and cross-border pressure, with losses in 2025 reaching 115.3 billion baht and investigators now estimating about 70 million baht in damage per day.
New figures, old threat
The Royal Thai Police reported on 19 March that the number of scam attempts targeting Thai phone numbers continued to rise, even though cases briefly fell at the start of the year. Authorities said fresh nationwide data justified raising the alarm again.
Officials stressed that public awareness and vigilance remained the most important defence against the current wave of fraud. They underlined that technical measures alone could not keep pace with the evolving methods used by scammers.
Billions lost – and little money recovered
A national assessment by the Global Anti-Scam Alliance put total fraud losses in Thailand in 2025 at 115.3 billion baht. The estimate reflected a broad range of phone and online scams affecting people across the country.
For victims, the report painted a bleak picture: only around 29 percent managed to recover even part of their money. This low recovery rate highlighted the speed with which funds were moved once they left victims’ accounts.
How often people are targeted – calls before SMS
The reach of the perpetrators was described as enormous, with around 68 percent of reported scam encounters taking place via phone calls. In addition, SMS messages were involved in roughly 56 percent of cases.
Social media also played a major role in the current wave, with reports most frequently naming Facebook as a contact channel. These platforms were used both for initial approaches and for building false trust.
Who is affected – not only Thais
Investigators said that recent complaints increasingly involved Thai nationals and expats, meaning foreigners living in the country were also being targeted. The scams therefore no longer focused on a single demographic group.
This trend added pressure on authorities and telecommunications providers to tighten protections. It also underscored that language or nationality offered no guarantee of safety against such schemes.
Why Thailand is in the crosshairs – and where gangs operate
According to officials, there was no single clear reason why Thailand had been hit so hard, but many scam operations appeared to be based abroad. Investigations repeatedly pointed to links with Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.
Police cited several factors, including a generally high level of trust in authorities and the perceived attractiveness of potential targets when financial reserves were assumed. At the same time, rising household debt in the country was seen as making people more vulnerable to fraudulent promises.
Cambodia in focus – and doubts about tough enforcement
In Cambodia, some sites were recently closed and foreign workers from alleged scam centres were sent back to their home countries after mounting international pressure on the networks. These moves were presented as part of a crackdown on cross-border cybercrime.
However, critics of the leadership around Hun Sen and Prime Minister Hun Manet questioned whether the industry had really been dismantled. They suspected the measures were more symbolic steps aimed at easing pressure from foreign investigators than a full-scale shutdown.
Record reach – 173 million contacts in one year
New data showed that Thailand had recently become the most heavily targeted market in Asia, with around 173 million scam contacts recorded over the past year. This indicated that almost every phone user could have been reached multiple times.
Of these, about 39 million were scam calls and around 134 million were scam SMS, with both figures exceeding those of the previous year. The growth suggested that enforcement efforts so far had not deterred operators from expanding their activities.
Scam factories, automation and SMS tricks
Police now described many structures as division-of-labour “scam factories” with fixed roles, from call teams to SMS dispatch units and money-movers. This industrial approach allowed fraudsters to run operations at scale and around the clock.
SMS messages in particular were becoming harder to filter, as perpetrators altered texts with symbols, unusual characters or mixed formats. These tactics were designed specifically to bypass blocking systems used by telecommunications providers.
Data leaks, mule accounts and one simple rule
Investigators warned of an additional risk from data leaks in which phone numbers were circulated together with names, email addresses or even passwords. Such information enabled highly targeted and convincing approaches to potential victims.
Police reported that mule accounts had been frozen and pointed to the national cybercrime database, which collects public tip-offs. As a technical protective step, they also recommended blocking incoming international calls where possible.
The force repeated its core guideline for the public:
“Do not believe, do not rush, and above all do not transfer any money.”
said Royal Thai Police, in a renewed appeal for caution.