The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has tightened measures regarding text messages sent from other countries in its efforts to curb fraud.
According to NBTC commissioner Pol Gen Nathathorn Prousoontorn, the latest move is in response to scam SMS messages originating from overseas.
He added that while the number of scam calls has declined, the number of inbound scam text messages has increased since the beginning of last month, with over 1 million of them a day having been blocked.
Recently, the NBTC subcommittee on enforcing the law suppressing technology crime held a meeting with related authorities concerning its ongoing implementation of the measures aimed at preventing online crime.
The meeting discussed the new measures governing the sending of SMS messages in the application to persons or A2P format.
The measures requires the telecom operators to place the senders of A2P SMS messages into two categories -- those sending such messages from within the country, and those sending them from overseas.
Moreover, the telecom operators must register those that wish to send SMS messages domestically in the A2P format. They must be clearly separated from those sending SMS messages from other countries.
In addition, the telecom operators must implement a firewall to screen potentially risky SMS messages, especially those sent from other countries.
After these SMS messages sent from abroad pass their screening process, the operators must place the symbol of an exclamation mark in front of these messages to alert users that it is an international SMS.
The operators must urgently implement all the measures and immediately inform customers about the measures.
The NBTC will start registering SIM boxes in November and only registered ones are eligible to connect with telecom networks. This means the SIM boxes of call centre gangs will not be able to connect with the telecom operators' networks.
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/general/3124002/
