Scam decree touts shared responsibility

Individuals need to follow best practices or they can be found fully liable, writes Somruedi Banchongduang

- Somruedi Banchongduang

An amended emergency decree mandates shared responsibility for financial scams among all stakeholders, but taking personal precautions remains the most effective defence.

The Emergency Decree on Measures to Prevent and Suppress Technology Crimes No.2, published in the Royal Gazette on April 12, introduces a shared responsibility model.

The decree addresses identity theft prevention, the management of mule accounts and the establishment of rapid incident reporting systems.

Stakeholders across the digital financial transaction ecosystem — including telecom operators, social media platforms, financial institutions, e-money service providers, digital asset operators and users — are all included under the new regulatory framework.

All parties involved, including individuals, are required to share responsibility for financial fraud cases based on their level of negligence.

Courts are to determine the degree of fault and assign liability for each party accordingly.

Relevant organisations are required to cooperate with regulators in efforts to prevent financial fraud.

Comprehensive compliance with these regulations may serve as a safeguard for organisations within the shared responsibility framework, according to the Bank of Thailand.

For example, individual users of financial services may be held fully liable for damages resulting from financial fraud if the losses are due to their own negligence, which means they should exercise caution when conducting financial transactions, said the regulator.