About 700 cases involving call centre scams are being lodged daily with the police, representing 450 billion baht in damages each year, according to a public prosecutor.
Sompong Yenkaew, chief of the Region 6 public prosecution office, made the remarks during a training programme for public prosecutors at a hotel in Phitsanulok's Muang district on Wednesday.
The programme was aimed at providing prosecutors with skills and knowledge to deal with cyber criminals as well as call-centre scammers, and help victims.
During the session, Mr Sompong said police have been investigating cases involving call centre scams daily, in which victims have been swindled out of 450 billion baht in total annually, but authorities managed to help recover only 2% of the lost money.
Weerachart Sriboonma, director of the Office of the Attorney-General's litigation training institute, said that despite an executive decree on the prevention and suppression of cybercrime being in place, the authorities still cannot respond to the problem efficiently.
Mr Weerachart called on financial institutions, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission, the Bank of Thailand and other law enforcement agencies to work more closely together to combat cybercrime.
Victims can contact the Anti Online Scam Operation Centre's emergency hotline at 1441 for assistance, which operates around the clock. The centre will help file complaints and have perpetrators' bank accounts frozen.
In other news, police in Ratchaburi arrested two men on Monday for allegedly stealing mobile phone network equipment belonging to True Move H Universal Communication Co.
On Aug 30, the company filed a complaint with Photharam police claiming that five baseband controllers and 30 fibre SFP (small form-factor pluggable) modules had been stolen from three cell site stations in Ratchaburi's Photharam district.
The theft disrupted the operation of signalling cables and 3G, 4G and 5G communication systems. Damages were estimated at 550,000 baht.
The two men, Watcharapol Chuethong and Samart Kongyu, told police they resold the equipment to a Chinese national. On Tuesday, police raided a house in Nonthaburi's Bang Bua Thong district where they found a number of communication devices.